


Not Going to Happen

by Sephirotha



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Asperger Syndrome, Bullying, F/M, Harassment, Love Triangles, M/M, School, Teen Romance, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2017-12-27 16:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephirotha/pseuds/Sephirotha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"One way or another, Miss Lockhart, I will win your heart."<br/>"That will not happen in a million years, Valentine!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”  
Anne jumped down the stairs, nearly falling over from the heavy landing, toothbrush in mouth, brush tangled in the thick knots of her long ebony hair and her blouse collar sticking out of her favourite red waistcoat that she could wear to school. Her black trousers were covered in the cat’s fur but she didn’t have time to clean them up because she was late for school. …Again! Jumping over the Siamese cat that tried to trip her over, Anne spat the toothpaste in her mouth out in the kitchen sink, rinsed her mouth and swallowed before grabbing her satchel and notebook.  
“Bye!” she shouted and ran out of the door, picking her black shoes up and running with them in her hands.  
Oh, why didn’t Tifa wake her up earlier?! She knew she had Asperger Syndrome and that she had processing problems so she did every five times slower than everyone else! Especially in the morning! Anne’s eyes widened as she saw Zack, the leader of the football team, up ahead and crashed into him.  
“Sorry!” they shouted at each other.  
Zack blinked as he saw Anne.  
“Oh hi Anne…”  
But she was gone, down the pavement and around the corner. Zack sweatdropped.  
“I could have given her a ride to school…” he murmured as he got his car keys out.  
Anne was so glad to be going to dance classes as she evaded the public that stood in her way to school. She had missed the bus now, so she was going to have to run all the way to the damn school! Why did the stupid school have to start at freaking 7am?! Anne was ecstatic when she finally got into a school that focused solely on the talents of a student with Tifa. She could hone her writing skills and perhaps even find a career in the performing arts which she had wanted for quite a while. The only problem was the school hours. Hello! Morning registration started at 7am in the morning and afternoon registration would end at 8pm! That’s thirteen freaking hours, surely keeping a student inside a school for that long was forbidden!  
Anne gasped as she saw Aerith, the best painter in the school. She narrowly missed running into her and gave her a quick wave while sprinting down the pavement. Aerith watched her with a soft smile and sighed.  
“She should have continued cross-country classes,” she murmured to herself as she watched Anne speed off and around the corner.  
Anne’s brain was completely ignoring the fact that her hips and calves are aching, her feet are going numb from all the running and her thighs were itching like hell. The only instructions were to get to school on time. Anne made sure to even her breathing as she jogged on the spot by the zebra crossing, waiting for the perfect opportunity to cross. After waiting for a minute or so, she was on the other side of the pavement and sprinting down to reach the damn school. Finally reaching the school, she jogged across the playground and noticed Cloud, the leader of the kendo team. She dove her hand into her bag where a piece of paper lay and slammed it on his chest as she ran past. Cloud blinked in confusion, took the piece of paper and read it.  
‘Ask Tifa out already!’  
Cloud blinked again but in bemusement and smiled, shaking his head.  
“Little matchmaker,” he mumbled and went inside the school building.  
Anne sped through the corridors, avoiding crashing into people then sighed as she saw a crowd blocking one corridor.  
“Excuse me!” she said as she slid underneath the legs of a tall burly person.  
She then realised that there was a fight and said tall burly person was trying to stop it. She got up, darted in between the two people fighting, elbowed them in the stomachs which made them fall onto the floor and squeezed through the crowd to get to registration, shouting apologies as she squirmed in between the mass of people. The tall burly person was called Angeal and he was the top wrestler in the school. He watched the small girl run off to registration, not bothering to call to her to remind her to not run in the corridors. He sighed and grabbed the two trouble-makers.  
“Everyone to registration!” he called “And you two are coming with me to see the headmaster.”  
Anne then saw Tifa, the sexiest and most popular girl in the school and the best student in martial arts, in the corridors as she continued travelling to her form room. She dove a hand into her satchel and slapped a piece of paper on Tifa’s large bust. Tifa swung a punch to whoever touched her bust but seeing them dodge, twirl and run off, Tifa deduced that it was her little sister, Anne. Did she catch the bus in the end? Tifa shrugged and retrieved the piece of paper.  
‘Stop pretending that you’re not crushing on Cloud!’  
Tifa blushed and crumpled the note up, tossing it into the bin then went into her form classroom. Anne growled as she saw Genesis, the best student in drama, blocked her path. She leapfrogged over him because she knew he wouldn’t get out of the way because he wouldn’t hear her over the music he had plugged in his ears and he probably wouldn’t bother with her anyway. Genesis stumbled and watched as Anne ran around the corner and sighed exasperatedly.  
“Why do I have to see her this early in the morning?” he lamented before continuing to read Loveless while he casually strolled to registration.  
Anne’s blood red eyes lit up when she saw Yuffie, the best gymnast in the school, and held out her hand. They hi-fived before Anne sprinted up all the stairs to reach her form room at the top. Yuffie blinked as she watched Anne run up the flights of stairs while the lift opened behind her.  
“I should do that but I don’t like running so much this early in the morning,” she yawned and went into the lift to get to her form room.  
“Sixty two, sixty four, sixty six,” Anne murmured as she jumped two steps at a time “Sixty-eight, seventy!”  
She then ran straight into someone and gasped as she toppled over. A strong arm secured itself around her waist and brought her into a sturdy warm chest. Anne hugged the person on instinct, her heart racing as she regained her breath. Sephiroth, the best student in music and the most popular and handsome boy in school, stared down at her curiously as she clung onto him in fright. He hugged her in comfort, wondering if he’d gone out with her before. Let’s see, none of the girls he had gone out with had long hair like hers so this was probably some fresh meat he could target. But she looked familiar, where could he have possibly seen her before…?  
“Oh my gosh!”  
The young girl broke out of his grip and she ran up the stairs after calling an apology down at him. Sephiroth blinked and looked down. A white hairbrush lay by his feet and he picked it up. ‘Anne’ was written in curvy letters on the back but there was a full name on a name label around the handle, saying ‘Anne Lockhart’. Lockhart, Cloud’s crush’s last name was Lockhart. Was that Cloud’s crush? No, she looked too young and Cloud mentioned that his Lockhart had the biggest bust in the school. That girl’s bust felt smaller than other girls he had pressed to his chest before. Shrugging, Sephiroth pocketed the brush and jogged up the stairs to his form room.  
******************************************************  
Anne sighed as she found her form room and burst in.  
“Sorry I’m late, sir!” she exclaimed and leaned against the doorframe gasping for breath.  
Mr Vincent Valentine, the stunt training teacher, had just reached her name in the register. He blinked and smiled at Anne, the best writer and the most well-known student in the school, gesturing for her to take her seat.  
“Sit down, Miss Lockhart, I’ll just register you in.”  
Anne slumped to her desk at the front and collapsed across it, falling asleep promptly. Sniggers spread throughout the classroom and Vincent sighed. Couldn’t the girl just stay out of trouble for one day?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cissnei and Anne talk in registration whilst Genesis and Sephiroth discuss about Anne

Cissnei, the best student in stunt training, poked Anne curiously as she slept through the fifteen minutes of registration. She took one look at her trousers, sighed while rolling her eyes and pulled out a sticky roller to get rid of the cat hair. Anne slept heavily on oblivious to her. Sighing and shaking her head, Cissnei pulled her brush out and began to brush out most of the thick knots in her hair. Anne grumbled in her sleep and tried to pull away. Cissnei kept her still while brushing consistently. Anne moaned as she stirred awake and tried to pull away again.  
“Cissy, that hurts,” she whined as Cissnei persistently held her down and forced the brush through her hair “Ah!”  
She fell over as the bell for the first lesson rang. The class giggled as she got up and shook her head. Cissnei giggled and helped her up.  
“I’ve got to get to Stunt Training now,” she said “What do you have first?”  
Anne yawned loudly as she threw her shoes on the floor, slipping her feet into them blearily. She rubbed her tired red eyes as she stuck her hand into her satchel and pulled out her timetable.  
“Free period,” she replied and yawned again “And after that is another free period. I’m going to use them to catch up on some extra sleep.”  
Cissnei rolled her eyes as Anne went out of the classroom and called for the lift.  
*****************************************************************************  
Sephiroth twirled the brush in his hand around thoughtfully as he and Genesis stood outside the band practice room, waiting for a teacher to come and unlock it. Genesis read Loveless as Sephiroth noticed that he looked…untidy.  
“Genesis, what happened this morning?” he asked.  
Genesis lowered his book and looked at him.  
“Why do you ask?” he inquired.  
“Your…hair looks unusually dishevelled…”  
“What?!”  
Genesis pulled out a pocket mirror and gasped at the sight of his hair then pulled out a comb to neaten himself up.  
“Anne is what happened,” he grumbled “Decided to leapfrog over me by the staircase, so unladylike of her.”  
Sephiroth perked up in interest.  
“Anne? Anne Lockhart?”  
Genesis scowled and put away the comb and mirror once he was finished.  
“What other Anne is so much of a pest that she becomes the bane of one’s existence?”  
Sephiroth blinked in bewilderment.  
“You know her?”  
“Well of course I know her, I share four classes with her and nearly everyone in this school knows her!”  
He cast a look at Sephiroth and sighed.  
“Don’t you know her? You’ve surely dated her before, haven’t you?”  
Sephiroth shook his head and Genesis sighed.  
“She’s in our Japanese class, front row.”  
She is? Sephiroth never noticed her before. Seeing his clueless look, Genesis rolled his eyes.  
“She’s the dork with the red waistcoat,” he gave another clue.  
Red waistcoat? Thinking about how she crashed into him, she was wearing an odd waistcoat with her uniform… Genesis felt frustrated when Sephiroth gave him another blank look. Why was he even trying to get Sephiroth to remember Tifa’s annoying little sister? Giving up, he resumed to reading Loveless.  
“Do I share any other classes with her?”  
Genesis felt his blood boil at the question but calmed himself, glancing at Sephiroth briefly.  
“How am I supposed to know?” he asked dryly.  
“You know nearly everything about everyone you know.”  
Genesis sighed and placed a bookmark on the page he was reading before closing the book.  
“She takes creative writing, dance, drama and Japanese alongside me,” he said and leaned back on the wall “She also takes athletics, singing, horse riding, ice skating, trampoline and archery.”  
Sephiroth blinked. He shared three classes with this girl and he had never noticed her? And judging by Genesis’s description, she was not easy to ignore. Maybe she just never fit Sephiroth’s criteria of a girlfriend? Staring down at the brush, he frowned. The next time he would see her was in their singing class and that was after the lunch period. Maybe he could find her during the lunch period… The door unlocked itself and it swung open to reveal Cloud and Angeal inside, discussing a few things about their new song. Blinking, Sephiroth saw Selena take out a key from the door and waltz past them. Smirking, he grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her towards him.  
“How about that date?” he purred into her ear.  
Selena’s golden gaze turned fiery.  
“By date, you mean hockey practice,” she countered coolly “You need to clean up your act, Valentine, because that match next week won’t be easy.”  
Sephiroth smirked all the wider and kissed her cheek.  
“Whatever you say, Kelly,” he said as he let her go and went to the corner to sit down and tune his guitar.  
Selena wiped her cheek, snarling to herself before grabbing her flute and warming up on the other side of the room. Genesis sighed as he fingered his keyboard.  
“Once a playboy, always a playboy,” he muttered and began to play a song from the top of his head.  
As Genesis played, he began wondering why Sephiroth wanted to know about Anne. That was her brush in his hand, Genesis remembered seeing it tangled in her hair as she ran off after she had leapfrogged over him. Genesis glanced at Sephiroth wearily after a while. He couldn’t possibly think of playing around with a young thing like her? She was far too innocent to mix in with his kind plus she had Asperger Syndrome which made her oblivious to nearly everything. Genesis blinked then began playing a more complicated song to clear his head. Why should he care? It was none of his business to know who Sephiroth was going to target as his new plaything and he certainly did not care about Anne’s safety either! Period.   
“Uh…Genesis?”  
“What?!” Genesis snapped and looked up.  
Benjamin blinked in surprise, stepping back slightly before clearing his throat.  
“When’s your next free period?” he asked.  
“Fourth, why?”  
Did Genesis really have to deal with an idiot like Benjamin now?  
“Uh, I need help with the homework for Computers,” Benjamin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  
“Fine,” Genesis waved him away “I’ll meet you in the Common Room with my laptop.”  
Benjamin muttered a thank you before going to his trumpet to warm it up. Genesis sighed and began playing again. Could this day get any worse?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sephiroth makes it his mission to seduce Anne

Second period was a free period for Sephiroth. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked down to the Common Room where he often spent time practicing his Japanese. The journey was uneventful until he saw a red waistcoat when he entered the Common Room. He stopped and stared. Her hair was still slightly ruffled but neater than the time she crashed into him on the stairs before registration. The girl’s body was sprawled over the table and the students generally ignored her as they passed her. She was breathing deeply, indicating that she was sleeping. Curious, Sephiroth sat down in front of her and shook her awake. She moaned and shoved him away.  
“Leave me alone,” she murmured groggily.  
Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow and smirked.  
“What if I don’t?” he challenged.  
“I’ll…make Tifa knock you out until next century.”  
The girl hunched her shoulders and turned away from him moodily. Grabbing a strand of hair, he pulled harshly.  
“OW!!!”  
The girl sat up straight and backhanded him.  
“Don’t touch the hair!” she shouted, drawing some attention to them.  
Sephiroth blinked and rubbed his cheek sorely. Not as strong as Tifa’s but it did sting as much. Anne glowered at him maliciously and stood up, about to walk away. Sephiroth snatched her wrist and pulled her back down into her seat firmly. She yelped and glared at him again.  
“What?”  
Sephiroth pulled out her brush and handed it over to her.  
“You dropped this,” he said.  
Staring at it blankly, Anne snatched it out of his hand and turned away from him.  
“Thanks,” she mumbled.  
Sephiroth blinked and took the brush back out of her hand. When she protested, he took a clump of hair and began to brush it.  
“No, no, no brushing or touching the hair!” Anne wailed as she struggled in his iron grip “Ow, ow, ow, ow!”  
She continued shouting ow when Sephiroth stopped brushing her hair. Sephiroth sighed as he grabbed her head and turned it towards him.  
“You look absolutely disgraceful,” he said in a very blunt tone.  
“I don’t care,” Anne stuck her tongue out at him.  
There was a pause of silence before Sephiroth turned her head the other way and continued assaulting her hair with gentle yet firm brushstrokes to get rid of the forming dreadlocks. Anne kept on complaining and shouting in pain as he did so, pulling away violently and trying to turn around to slap and backhand him repeatedly. The students around them watched, the boys slightly amused and the girls slightly envious. Eventually there was a mass of hair that had been pulled out with the brushing by Sephiroth’s feet and Anne’s once wild mane was now tame. Sighing, Sephiroth handed the brush back to Anne who snatched it and pocketed straight away.  
“You’re mean,” she said childishly and turned her back on him.  
Sephiroth chuckled in amusement, ruffling her hair.  
“You’re cute,” he said with a smirk, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek against his fist.  
Anne slapped his hand away and Sephiroth turned his face to look at her.  
“What do you have next?” he asked.  
“Singing,” Anne mumbled as she shifted away from him wearily.  
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and moved his chair closer to her.  
“We’re in the same class,” he said pointedly, leaning an arm over the back of her chair and going into her personal space.  
Anne’s cheeks flushed and her nose twitched. This guy who had assaulted her hair with her own brush was covered in the scent of that deodorant Lynx and that was now assaulting her nose. Anne wouldn’t admit it, but she loved the smell despite everyone complaining about the stench. She scooted further away.  
“Really now?” she said keeping her voice normal.  
Sephiroth smirked and moved even closer to her.  
“I suggest we rehearse one or two melodies,” he murmured in her ear and placed a hand on her knee “at my place, just you and me.”  
A petite hand pressed itself firmly on his chest and he was pushed away. Anne’s cheeks were bright red like her eyes, so she had gotten the hint on what he really wanted. She managed a glare as she kept him at arm’s length.  
“Not interested,” she made her best impression of Cloud.  
This infuriated Sephiroth inside but he kept his face neutral. One, she rejected him flat out and in public. Two, she had the nerve to impersonate his rival in five of his subjects. And three, she wouldn’t accept the fact that she was probably thinking of him and her, naked and in his bed at this precise moment. The girls who rejected him, (namely Aerith and Tifa) only did one or two things to tick him off so he let them slide, but Anne had done three which spelt trouble for this poor, innocent, little virgin. Looming over her, Sephiroth gave her one killer smirk and cupped her chin.   
“I don’t believe you,” he purred.  
This flat out terrified poor little Anne. Swallowing, she levelled his stare and cleared her throat.  
“Well y-you’re going to have to,” she said as confidently as possible.  
Sephiroth chuckled and pulled her closer and into that damned scent of his Lynx deodorant.  
“Anne Lockhart,” he said in a dangerously low tone “if you do not admit that you want me right here and right now, I’ll torture you until your lust for me makes you go on your hands and knees and you’ll beg for me like a female dog in heat. Or better yet, you’ll fall in love with me thoroughly so you’ll be begging for my affection every single day of your life. You won’t go for one day without thinking about me.”  
Anne’s eyes were on fire with anger. She hated playboys like this guy.  
“Falling in love with a playboy like you will be the last thing I'll ever do,” she vowed to Sephiroth with her eyes narrowed.   
Sephiroth just smirked.   
“Well, we'll just wait and see.”  
Anne scowled at him and slapped his hand away, grabbing her satchel and stood up, running out of the common room with a flushed face. Sephiroth chuckled to himself as he got his Japanese books out. Oh, this is going to be easy. How long could a young girl like her possibly resist him?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne's issue with dance classes

Anne ran out of the singing classroom after writing down her homework to get far away from Sephiroth. Throughout the whole lesson, he had been standing behind her and literally breathing down her neck, giving her goosebumps and making her hair stand on edge. It was damn uncomfortable!  
Sephiroth: 1  
Anne: 0  
She hated him! She officially hated him, he was such a…a…playboy and boy did Anne hate playboys! Anne shook her head and growled as she turned the corner sharply and into the girls’ dance changing rooms. She grabbed her locker key from her satchel and opened her locker to get her dance clothes.  
“Hey, Anne, what’s the matter?” Gloria asked when she came in as Anne slammed her locker door after putting her satchel in.  
“Sephiroth is the matter!” Anne ranted as she carefully took her waistcoat up and hung it on a hook “The stupid playboy wants me to give my virginity up to him!”  
The twins who just came in, Melody and Harmony, gasped when they heard her and looked at her sympathetically.  
“Aw, honey…” Melody started.  
“Don’t you want to become a woman yet?” Harmony asked abruptly.  
“NO!”  
The three girls jumped at Anne’s loud response. She gave them a dirty look and sighed.  
“No, if I wanted to be a ‘woman’, I wouldn’t have my first time with Sephiroth. I’d rather be with someone who would care about my feelings.”  
After hanging her blouse up, Anne pulled on a black full sleeve shirt. She sighed forlornly.  
“Like Cloud or Zack,” she muttered “I wish one of them could be my boyfriend. I’m so jealous of Aerith and Tifa.”  
“Why Tifa?” Harmony gave her a quizzical look.  
Gloria rolled her eyes and Melody sighed.  
“Cloud’s crushing on Tifa and vice versa,” Melody explained to her air-headed sister “Surely you’ve noticed?”  
Harmony shook her head.  
“No, of course not!” she smiled.  
Anne sighed again and shook her head, tear brimming her eyes.  
“Am I only good enough to have petty playboys chasing after me?” she asked softly to herself while pulling her black trousers down to change into the leggings in front of her.  
“Hey, honey,” Gloria came over and placed a hand on her shoulder “Sephiroth ain’t that bad. Why, he’d be the perfect guy to pop your cherry!”  
Anne’s cheeks went as red as her eyes and she pushed her hand off.  
“No, I don’t feel ready to think that kind of thing anyway,” she mumbled while exchanging her school shoes for her dance shoes.  
Gloria shrugged and went to her own locker to change into her dance clothes. Anne sighed as she stepped back from her changing place and began to rapidly go through the moves of the current dance they were doing. There was only one thing about her dance class that Anne hated. It was the teacher, Elmyra Gainsborough, Aerith’s godmother. She always insisted that Anne and Genesis were the perfect dance couple because they were the right size and height for each other. And then she insisted that they just had to be the centre of attention and they had so much chemistry between them apparently. Anne never really believed her at all but when seeing a video of one of their performances, she admitted that it was true in her mind. Genesis, of course, flat out disagreed with anything. Anne loved annoying Genesis and Genesis hated her for being so annoying. Those two only agreed on something and that was that they were only good as dance partners and not friends.   
Sighing as she was fully dressed, warmed up and ready for the class, Anne walked out of the changing room and into the dance studio. She took one look at the window which was attached to the viewing room and nearly lost her stance. Sephiroth was sitting in one of the seats, watching her with a malicious smirk. Glaring at his arrogant look, Anne walked over to Miss Gainsborough and sat down in front of her, doing her stretching exercises.  
**********************************************************************************************  
Sephiroth couldn’t help but chuckle when Anne gave him a cute and very adorable glare to him then went to the dance teacher. His eyes trailed up and down her form when she sat down and began stretching. She had growing biceps, Sephiroth could see her muscle contracting and relaxing as she flexed her arms out. Her arms were clearly too short when she straightened her legs and tried to grab her toes. Her stomach was flat but not as flat as Tifa’s. The same could be said for her size of bust… Sephiroth sat back and watched as the other students came in one by one. The only thing that was different between Anne and the other girls was that Anne was far too naive and innocent for a sixteen year old. But Sephiroth liked a challenge and besides she was a cute catch. This whole ordeal in trying to catch her could be fun.  
Sephiroth caught Genesis’s eye and smirked when he spotted Anne and rolled his eyes. Sephiroth rested his cheek against his palm as the class began to start.  
************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
“Right,” Miss Gainsborough said as she clapped her hands to get her students’ attention after their mutual warm up “Today I’m going to introduce you to the tango.”  
Genesis and Anne both groaned inwardly as they knew what to expect from her.  
“Let’s see…Amber can go with Zero.”  
The youngest students stood next to each other at the back of the room, Zero holding Amber’s hand.  
“Fiona can go with Yazoo…”  
The ice queen herself gave Yazoo and icy glare before letting him walk over to stand next to her.  
“Megumi can go with Sky…”  
Megumi ran up to her older brother and hugged him tightly with a grin.  
“Harmony can go with Dune…”  
Harmony instantly pounced on Dune gleefully.  
“Melody can go with Ruka…”  
Ruka, born as a mute, simply glanced at Melody and walked over to stand next to her.  
“Gloria can go with Edmund.”  
Gloria sighed forlornly and glared at Edmund as he smirked and waltzed over to her.  
“And Anne can go with Genesis!”  
Anne and Genesis groaned and hung their heads.  
“Does anyone have any objections with these pairings?”  
“I do!” Genesis and Anne threw their hands up instantly.  
“Good, then we can begin!” Miss Gainsborough chuckled thoughtfully as she went to the music player.  
Anne felt her hand fall and gave her a disbelieving look. Couldn’t there be just one dance lesson when she couldn’t dance with Genesis?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another section of Anne's school day

“Grr…”  
Anne stormed out of the girls’ changing rooms grumpily.  
“Stupid dance classes, stupid tango…”  
She pulled out a water pistol from her pocket from her waistcoat and sprayed Genesis almost automatically when he came out of the boys’ changing rooms. Genesis spluttered, fell backwards, making Anne giggle softly.  
“Stupid Genesis,” she said to herself.  
“Anne!”  
Anne turned her head and Yazoo caught up to her.  
“Let’s go to the ice rink together,” he proposed.  
“OK,” Anne shrugged and they walked down the stairs to the ground floor.  
She paused when Sephiroth passed her. She turned and shouted.  
“Oi, pretty boy!”  
When Sephiroth turned, Anne shot her water pistol into his face. He spluttered and shook his head out while Anne giggled, grabbed Yazoo and dragged him out of the building to the ice rink.  
“Stupid Sephiroth,” she murmured under her breath.  
Anne: 1  
Sephiroth: 1  
*****************  
“Stupid dance classes,” Genesis growled as he grabbed his bag and began walking out of the boy’s changing rooms “Stupid tango.”  
He was suddenly assaulted by a cold jet of water from Anne’s water pistol and fell backwards, spluttering as the water had gotten into his mouth. Ruka smirked, Yazoo tilted his head curiously, Sky raised an eyebrow, Dune tittered, Zero giggled and Edmund burst out laughing as Genesis fell backwards into the boy’s changing rooms. Genesis grabbed his towel out of his bag and wiped his face dry.  
“Stupid Anne!” he growled to himself as Yazoo stepped over him and went out of the changing rooms.  
Sky sighed and shook his head while folding up his clothes and putting them in his bag.  
“Can’t you guys have at least a civil relationship?” he asked while pulling his gloves on for his next Engineering class.  
“Nothing is civil with that girl,” Genesis muttered as he got up, composed himself, checked his hair condition then walked out of the changing rooms.  
He raised an amused eyebrow as he met Sephiroth who was drying his face with a tissue. The best friends stared at each other, their faces showing the evidence of Anne’s water pistol’s assaults. Genesis smirked.  
“So what have you got next?” he asked.  
“Kendo, yourself?” Sephiroth held up his bag with his Kendo kit.  
“Free period, I need to help Brainless Benjamin with the Computer homework.”  
Sephiroth rolled his eyes.  
“Lucky you,” he drawled before continuing his way down the corridor.  
Genesis turned his back on him and walked away from him.  
“Stupid Sephiroth,” he muttered under his breath.  
************************************************  
Ruka hated his disability. He wished for a voice so he could talk like other people around him. He wanted to talk to Crystal, his crush. …Well more of a stalker victim seeming as Ruka took most of Crystal’s classes just to be with her. But who could not love Crystal? She was perfect. Beautiful, motherly, kind, graceful, talented but too modest to admit she was perfect. Ruka had been sending her anonymous love letters, too shy and too scared to admit his feelings. He only hoped that she would become attracted to him.  
“Ruka, hurry up!” Anne called as she went on the ice and skated towards Crystal, Harmony, Melody and Serenity.  
The girls began to chatter excitedly as Ruka pulled his skates on and began to go on the ice.  
“Ruka.”  
Ruka froze as hands grabbed his long white hair and tied it up in a ponytail. He turned, both of his ruby red eyes focusing on Yazoo. Yazoo stared into his left eye which Ruka often concealed because of the nasty scar through it.  
“You need more confidence,” he said as he skated out onto the rink.  
Ruka watched silently before getting onto the ice and joining the group. He watched as Anne talked to Crystal softly.  
“Next is Japanese and I can tell it won’t be a good lesson,” she rolled her eyes “Sephiroth should be sitting miles away but I get that feeling that he’s going to cause me hell anyway.”  
Crystal simpered softly.  
“Oh, Sephiroth,” she sighed and shook her head “Out of all the playboys, Anne, you get targeted by him? He doesn’t even target very often!”  
“You got targeted by him,” Anne muttered.  
“And I accepted to get him off my back,” Crystal shrugged “It only lasted for three weeks.”  
“What was he like?” Serenity asked curiously.  
“Romantic,” Crystal giggled with the other girls “I love romantic boys.”  
“Did you…?”  
Ruka held his breath as Crystal blushed.  
“Nearly but Sephiroth’s father walked in.”  
Ruka had a brief image of Mr Valentine walking in on Sephiroth and Crystal in a king sized bed. The girls began laughing loudly, Harmony falling over as she killed herself with her laughter. Ruka felt a small smirk crawl onto his face and shook his head.  
“It was alright actually, I was saved,” Crystal hunched her shoulders shyly “I didn’t feel ready and I was a little tipsy.”  
A gasp spread through the girls.  
“Crystal!” Anne exclaimed, pretty alarmed “You’ve been drinking underage?!”  
“I was fourteen,” Crystal murmured meekly.  
“Fourteen?!?!!?” Harmony and Melody shouted at the same time.  
“I’m not drinking now,” Crystal held her hands up “It was a onetime thing, I did it to fit in.”  
“Oh, Crystal,” Serenity sighed “I thought you were smarter than that.”  
“I learnt from it,” Crystal grumbled softly.  
“Right,” Miss Yuki glided in front of the group “Pick your partners.”  
Ruka glided past and grabbed Crystal instantly. Crystal blinked as they glided into position. Ruka smiled softly while the rest of the group skated around them to pick their partners.  
*********  
Anne sighed as she slung her ice skates over her shoulder and carried her satchel with her heavy Japanese books. Harmony walked alongside her, wary of the negative vibes going off her.  
“I’ve never seen you so negative while going to Japanese,” she commented softly.  
“Sephiroth’s made my second favourite subject my second least favourite subject,” Anne mumbled.  
Harmony laughed as they reached their Japanese class and when Harmony opened the door to go in and go to her seat, Anne was left standing by the door, glaring at Genesis who had stolen Anne’s seat next to one of Anne’s closest friends, Zenna, at the front row. Genesis jabbed his thumb to the back row where Sephiroth was waiting with an empty seat. He beckoned Anne with a mischievous smirk. Anne glared back at Genesis.  
“Out of my seat,” she demanded.  
“I forgot my glasses, so I’m going to have to sit at the front,” Genesis smirked.  
“You don’t wear glasses!” Anne exclaimed then growled as Mrs Ito came in and ordered her to take her seat.  
She hunched her shoulders and moodily stormed to the back of the room, sitting down next to Sephiroth reluctantly because it was the only seat available. As soon as she sat down, she began fuming silently when she felt a cool hand on her thigh.   
Sephiroth: 2  
Anne: 1  
Couldn’t she just get rid of him for once?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The points on the scoreboard increase

Asa found this Japanese lesson rather…interesting. He couldn’t help but glance back whenever he heard a scuffle behind him where Sephiroth and Anne were. Gabriel turned round often and just smirked knowingly before getting back to work. Whenever Asa glanced back, he would either see Sephiroth’s trademark smirk, Anne’s brightly blushing cheeks, Sephiroth’s hand groping Anne’s ass gently or smoothing its way up and down her thigh. Asa felt for Anne, she was far too childlike to be targeted by the school’s biggest playboy.  
“Stop it!” Anne squealed softly and slapped Sephiroth’s hand off her thigh.  
Sephiroth just chuckled and leaned in, assaulting Anne’s poor nose with his Lynx deodorant.  
“Make me,” he purred challengingly.  
Anne growled at him with bared teeth.  
Sephiroth: 3  
Anne: 1  
Asa had heard about this little deal of theirs because he happened to be in the Common Room when he heard Anne reject Sephiroth. That caught his attention instantly as he tuned in his fine hearing and pretended to read his Magic Skills book. Asa often contributed to get gossip and blackmail for people when he’s paid for it. He was very quiet and his ears could hear a lot among people. Asa was a natural at tuning his ears to something.  
“Stop it, seriously!” Anne squealed again and slapped Sephiroth around the face, causing Gabriel to wince sympathetically.  
Sephiroth: 3  
Anne: 2  
Asa rolled his eyes, shook his head and began to focus on work.  
***************************************************************  
Aerith tilted her head curiously as she saw Anne sitting underneath the oak tree with some onigiri, chomping down on them grumpily and chewing furiously.  
“Hi,” she said sitting next to her “Are you OK?”  
“Of course not,” Anne mumbled moodily as she swallowed her mouthful “You saw what happened in Japanese.”  
Aerith just smiled and opened her lunch box.  
“Dango?” she offered a stick of dango.  
“Please!”  
Aerith smiled as Anne’s face lit up at the mention of dango, snatched the treat and happily munched on it.  
“Did I hear dango?!”  
Aerith and Anne turned their heads and saw Zack bound over to them like an overexcited puppy. Anne smiled as Zack pulled the puppy eyes to his girlfriend to beg for some dango too. Aerith giggled and handed him a stick of dango.  
“I made enough for everyone,” she said as Zack and Anne sat together, munching happily on their dango.  
She giggled again then looked around with a frown.  
“Where are Tifa and Cloud?” she asked to herself.  
************************************************  
Tifa swung her hands behind her back as she and Cloud talked underneath the willow tree while watching the horses gallop in the field across the river. Cloud was mainly complaining about Sephiroth and accusing him of cheating while they were in a kendo match. Tifa just listened, like she normally did.  
“Anyway, back to the main topic,” Cloud cleared his throat and fished something out of his pocket “Tifa, will you go out with me?”  
Tifa’s heart leapt as she staggered back in shock.  
“I-I-I…”  
Cloud smirked and held out Anne’s note.  
“Your little sister is tired of our ‘charade’,” he said as Tifa instantly recognized Anne’s handwriting.  
“Why the little…”  
Tifa blushed and looked away shyly.  
“So, will you go out with me?” Cloud repeated his question.  
Tifa looked up and grinned, throwing herself into him for a hug.  
“Yes!”  
************************************************************************************************  
“Something good has happened,” Anne said abruptly and loudly as she finished her current onigiri.  
The students around her gave her a befuddled look. She looked at them then smiled widely.  
“Ignore me~!”  
Pairs of eyes rolled while eyebrows raised as everyone went about their business.  
“So what have you got for the rest of the day?” Bianca asked as she, Zenna, Hayley, Crystal, Erik, Sky, Serenity, Megumi, Hikari and Fiona sat around her.  
Anne hummed as she tilted her head.  
“I’ve had two free periods first thing,” she said to jog her memory “Then I had singing, dancing, ice-skating and Japanese.”  
She hummed again and clicked her tongue.  
“After lunch I have creative writing!” she perked up immediately with a bright smile “Then Drama, horse-riding, trampoline, archery and athletics last thing…”  
Her face dropped.  
“I don’t believe it,” she grumbled.  
“What’s the matter?” Sky asked as he ate his bacon sandwich.  
“Sephiroth’s in our athletics class isn’t he?” Anne pulled a miserable look towards Sky.  
When Sky nodded Anne groaned and curled up with a gloomy cloud hovering over her.  
“Kill me now,” she mumbled “He’s going to be so mischievous if he sees me in my athletics kit.”  
Said athletics kit contained shorts that stopped above her knees and a white short-sleeved shirt that was getting too small for her. Sky swallowed and frowned softly.  
“Why is he targeting you again?” he asked.  
“I have no clue how it happened,” Anne answered honestly.  
Sky looked up and his frown deepened when he saw Sephiroth coming towards them. Sephiroth smirked his usual smirk as his shadow towered over poor little Anne.  
“Mind if I join?”  
Anne jumped to her feet, leapt over Erik and Sky while bringing her fists up.  
“If it’s a fight you want, come and get it,” she challenged in a low tone.  
Sephiroth laughed, enticing one of Anne’s veins to pop irritably.  
“I’m being serious,” she growled with gritted teeth.  
Zenna giggled behind her hand timidly, a blush across her cheeks telling the story of her sort of secret crush. She felt her cheeks then let her fringe cover the rest of her face shyly. Sephiroth smirked wider and stared at Anne.  
“I would like to eat my lunch with you and your friends,” he said with a very fake innocent smile then turned to the group “You wouldn’t mind would you?”  
There was a chorus of yes and no but Sephiroth sat down next to Zenna anyway. He curiously glanced at Anne’s half-eaten onigiri and picked it up, taking a soft bite.  
“Hey!” Anne growled as she lunged for the rest of her onigiri and shuffled away to sit behind Crystal and Hayley “I made these for myself and myself only! …And only to share with friends!”  
“Oh?” Sephiroth cocked a sly eyebrow “You made them?”  
He smirked and tossed the rest of the onigiri in his mouth. Zenna giggled mischievously.  
“Zenna, what’s so funny?” Anne asked warily.  
“Sephiroth just ate the same thing as you,” Zenna winked with her good eye “You’ve just had an indirect kiss!”  
Fiona smirked softly while Megumi and Hikari giggled hysterically as Anne’s cheeks went red.  
Sephiroth: 4  
Anne: 2  
Zenna was one of Anne’s best friends. She had long silver hair that trailed behind her like a wedding train attached to a wedding dress. She had a fringe over the right side of her face to cover the deformation that she was born with. She had three brothers, Yazoo, Kadaj and Loz and held a very similar face to them. Anne and Zenna got along so well, Anne never expected herself to be betrayed by her. Especially when it came to Sephiroth, whom Zenna had a massive crush on. In fact, she thought Zenna would encourage Sephiroth to stay away from her only to target him later. Anne whined and leaned her head on Crystal with a sad sigh. Could this day get any worse?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of the school day

“Stupid playboy, stupid Sephiroth, stupid shorts, stupid wind, stupid, stupid, stupid Joel and Robin with their bomb tricks!”  
Anne stormed into her form room, with her bag with her school uniform in, in her athletics kit and drenched to the bone. Vincent eyed her and sighed.  
“What’s the story for today, Miss Lockhart?” he asked.  
“Your son,” Anne grumbled as she dropped her stuff by her desk.  
Vincent blinked in alarm.  
“That can’t be possible,” he frowned.  
“Well he hired Robin to water bomb me so my shirt is see-through.”  
Her black sports bra was very obvious through her white shirt.  
Sephiroth: 5   
Anne: 2  
Vincent cocked an eyebrow.  
“Then change into your school uniform?”  
“When Joel has stink bombed it? No way.”  
Vincent and Anne stared at each other long and hard.  
“But you’re too innocent to be hunted by Sephiroth,” Vincent said in such a blunt tone which had the class roaring with laughter.  
Anne pouted sulkily.  
“Tastes change,” she said moodily.  
“…I will have a word with him when I get back home,” Vincent nodded with a grunt “Don’t sit down, you’ve already soaked the floor.”  
Anne huffed and folded her arms grumpily. Jade chuckled and threw her a towel.  
“Here, honey,” she said and helped Anne dry her hair “Let me help you.”  
Anne whined and grumbled as Jade carefully dried her.  
“I hate Sephiroth,” she whined for the seventy-eighth time.  
“We know, dear,” Jade sighed and squeezed the water out of Anne’s hair “But really, he isn’t that bad.”  
“You’ve been out with him. I don’t want to go out with him.”  
Jade giggled and hugged her.  
“You’re just too cute~!” she sung “I can see why Sephiroth likes you.”  
“I’m too much of a virgin to even think of a boyfriend!” Anne whined and pushed Jade away.  
“Aw, come on. You must have some crushes on some guys here.”  
Anne blushed softly and shrugged.  
“Well…”  
Jade listened intently as Anne whispered in her ear.  
“I kind of like Sky.”  
Jade squealed and picked Anne up in a hug again.  
“Oh, dearie why didn’t you say so?!” she asked as she swung Anne around “I’ll go and hook you two up right away!”  
“Hey wait-!”  
Anne watched as Jade dropped her, grabbed her stuff and shoot out of the classroom then sweatdropped.  
Jade was one of those girls who was looking for love. She has tried every single guy that she’s found and she seemed particularly interested in playboys. She’s still a virgin though, so she isn’t really labelled as the school whore. But she loves to be a matchmaker too, believing in that thing called true love which Anne was so against. The bell went and Anne marched out sharply with Jade’s towel over her head, looking for Tifa.  
*******************************************************************************  
“Hurry up, Sephiroth!” Lucrecia called as she placed her students’ work in the car.  
“Just give me a minute!” Sephiroth called over his shoulder before glaring at Cloud “I want to know everything about Anne.”  
“Why should I tell you anything?” Cloud folded his arms as he mirrored Sephiroth’s glare.  
“You’re dating her sister now and there’s the chance you’ll get to know her if she’ll be around her sister.”  
“Why not ask Genesis?”  
“Genesis refused. And rather loudly.”  
Cloud folded his arms and held his glare.  
“I am not acting as your spy,” he said defiantly.  
Sephiroth sighed and looked away until Cloud grabbed his arm.  
“Look, I’m going to pass you to someone who might give you information about Anne because you seriously look like you need someone to calm you down,” he said and leaned in “Why not try Zenna? She’s one of Anne’s closest friends. If not, just browse through the girls she’s usually with. I’m pretty sure they’ll be willing.”  
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and smirked.  
“I’ll try,” he said before walking off to the car, taking the back seat.  
Vincent eyed him in his rear mirror as he strapped himself in his seat.  
“Sephiroth, I need to talk to you,” he said as he started the engine.  
Sephiroth glanced at him then his eyes gleamed.  
“Oh yes, Anne’s in your form isn’t she?” he smirked widely.  
“Yes and as her form tutor, I’m going to talk to you about your…intentions at home,” Vincent said as they left the school car park.  
“Anne?” Lucrecia said and turned to look at Sephiroth “Anne Lockhart?”  
Sephiroth nodded once and Lucrecia sighed while turning to the front.  
“She’s a shy one,” she wagged her finger at him “Be sure to be careful with her. She’s a delicate thing.”  
“He will not go anywhere near her,” Vincent decided sharply “If you’re going to have a girlfriend, you mustn’t have one as vulnerable as Anne. I have enough trouble with her as her form tutor.”  
“You’re no fun,” Sephiroth sighed and folded his arms.  
He leaned forward so that he could whisper in his father’s ear.  
“Or could it be that you’re having an illegal relationship with her?” he murmured mischievously.  
“Sephiroth Matthew Alexander Valentine, do not suggest such inappropriate things,” Vincent barked sharply.  
Sephiroth smirked wider and leaned back.  
“Yes, dad,” he mimicked in a childish voice.  
*****************************************  
“I don’t want to be a practice dummy!” Anne whined as Tifa pulled her karate gloves on.  
“Mum’s cooking and Dad’s busy,” Tifa sighed and placed her hands on her hips with a frown.  
“Well call Cloud round so he can be your practice dummy!” Anne shouted and stormed up to her bedroom, slamming the door loudly.  
Tifa winced and sighed.  
“Guess she found out,” she muttered and pulled her phone out.  
Anne, meanwhile, sat by her computer and began writing out her creative writing homework. The homework was a story which had to be at least a thousand words, the main character having to go through sibling problems. Anne felt her mind go into the clouds as she began to imagine her characters. She chose to make a girl named Florence who had three sisters and one brother. Anne closed her eyes and let her fingers tap away at the keyboard. Florence was twelve years old, at a new school and having problems with her elder sister, Jenna. Anne decided that she’d leave her homework at a cliff-hanger. She loved making her teacher jumpy and asking for more. It was fun. Sighing she leaned back and glanced at her note board. She had been selected to take part in the Saturday party this week and if she was going to play this dangerous game against Sephiroth, she’ll flirt his socks off this weekend and score a few points for herself. What could possibly go wrong?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Saturday night at the school bar

Sephiroth and Genesis sat at their usual table at the school bar, watching Flint and Dune, possibly the gayest boys in the school, dressed up as dames and entertaining the audience with silly jokes and stunts. Sephiroth snorted as Flint’s ridiculously long flaming red hair accidentally got snagged in a piece of Dune’s jewellery and they began to fuss and panic about their current situation. Genesis sighed as he sipped his Apple Glow when Dune began screaming at Flint for ruining his look and Flint began screaming at him for ruining his beautiful hair.  
“Amateurs,” Genesis scoffed as the audience laughed at the boys when they began slapping each other in a comical manner.  
Sephiroth smirked at his best friend when Dune began tying Flint up with his own hair.  
“Would you be a better dame?” he asked coolly “I haven’t seen you in a dress before.”  
Genesis scowled and placed his mocktail down.  
“I could be a dame if I wanted to,” he boasted and tossed his auburn hair “I just haven’t found the opportunity to yet.”  
Sephiroth grinned wider and sat back, picking up his Sorbet Lemonade Cooler.  
“Why not volunteer for next week’s party?” he proposed “I’m sure that will provide the opportunity for you to show off your…talents.”  
Genesis scoffed then paused when the audience clapped as Flint and Dune bowed after they ended their performance. He then smirked deviously and turned to Sephiroth.  
“Alright,” he said as the boys went offstage “I shall volunteer for participating in the next show, as long as you…” He leaned in and flicked Sephiroth’s nose. “And three other lucky participants be part of my act.” Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow, clearly not amused.  
“I shall not dress up as a woman,” he said sternly.   
Genesis smirked and rested his face with his fist.  
“I think it might score some more points with Miss Lockhart Junior,” he said “She’s a huge fan of yaoi, especially guys who dress up as dames.”  
Sephiroth paused and sighed as he thought about it. He wasn’t doing too badly with the scores at the moment:  
Anne: 4  
Sephiroth: 9  
Sephiroth chuckled as he remembered tripping Anne up in singing when she was wearing a skirt and got a nice glimpse of her childish polka dot underwear. She looked like she was about to cry when he complimented her choice in knickers and stormed off. He did get a scolding from Aerith who saw the whole thing and a lecture from Luna about Anne having Asperger Syndrome so she was more sensitive about her feelings.  
“I’ll think about it,” he said after a while when Diana jogged out onto the stage with a list of the acts and a microphone.  
“Well weren’t those two beautiful elegant ladies quite a catch?” she grinned, making the audience laugh weakly “A spectacular start to our Saturday night too! Now, she’s cute, she’s pretty, she’s surprisingly sexy and she’s got an outrageous voice. You’d better hold onto your hats boys, and girls, she’s the one to swing both ways…”  
A few giggles appeared in the audience and Dianna sniggered softly.  
“Give it up for Anne Lockhart!”  
Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Genesis.  
“She’s bi?” he said.  
Genesis shrugged.  
“It appears so,” he murmured as the lights dimmed and music began playing.  
(I wish from Digimon)  
Anne opened her eyes as the spotlight went on her and began singing, arms spread out widely as she smiled warmly. Sephiroth and Genesis perked up when they saw what she was wearing. A pale pink dress that started above her breasts and stopped below her hips. It hugged her figure, showing her curves off and with every move she did whilst she was singing, Sephiroth kept on thinking that her dress would both slip down and show her breasts or ride up to get another glimpse of her knickers.  
Sephiroth: 9  
Anne: 5  
“Sephiroth?” Genesis muttered as he himself discovered that he couldn’t take his eyes off Anne “Are you feeling as uncomfortable as I am right now?”  
“Yes, Genesis,” Sephiroth sweatdropped as he felt really uncomfortable down south.  
Sephiroth: 9  
Anne: 6  
“Oh no, she’s going to tour the audience,” Genesis groaned as Anne took off the microphone from its stand and got off the stage after the first chorus.  
Anne smiled as she sat on the table that Angeal, Loz and Rude were around. She leaned in and began flirting with them slightly, giving Sephiroth a small jab of jealousy. He then began glowering properly when she moved to the next table with Zack, Aerith, Tifa and Cloud.  
Sephiroth: 9  
Anne: 7  
Genesis scooted as far away from Anne as possible when she arrived at their table, having no desire to be flirted by a little terror like her. Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at her challengingly as she leaned in and pouted softly while starting the second chorus. It was then that Sephiroth smelt her perfume. DKNY apple perfume, a personal favourite of his. The little vixen…  
Sephiroth: 9  
Anne: 8  
Anne grabbed him by the front of his collar and pulled him onto his feet, hooking a leg around his waist and pressing them together. This didn’t affect him so he grabbed her by the hips and pressed them together harder. Anne missed a note when that happened but kept her cool as a heavy blush appeared on her face.  
Sephiroth: 10  
Anne: 8  
Sephiroth just didn’t expect her comeback to be so…playful. The next thing he knew his nipple got twisted.  
Sephiroth: 10  
Anne: 9  
Anne shoved her hip into him to push him away.  
Sephiroth: 10  
Anne: 10  
Then she extended her leg so her bare foot was square on his chest and he was pushed back into his seat.  
Sephiroth: 10  
Anne: 11  
And he saw that she was wearing nothing underneath so got a glimpse of her…ahem.  
Sephiroth: 10  
Anne: 12  
Anne winked as she continued her song while the audience laughed at her little act. Sephiroth grabbed his drink and downed it to ignore the humiliation, cursing softly when he remembered that it was non-alcoholic. Anne had a devious smirk on her face as Genesis watched her dance a musical break with Mako.  
“I have just realised that I have only been receiving the tame behaviour of Devil Annabelle Susanna Lockhart,” he said as he cocked an eyebrow at her behaviour with the cold-hearted photographer.  
Sephiroth glanced up at the performance and glowered at Mako who looked like he was simply devouring Anne.   
Sephiroth: 10  
Anne: 13  
Sephiroth’s hand twitched as he beckoned Hikari who was currently on waiting duty.  
“Are you sure you don’t sell alcohol?” he asked her discretely.  
Hikari smirked and sighed while shaking her head.  
“I’ll get you something for free then,” she said with a smile “You wouldn’t want to get on Anne’s bad side, I can tell you that.”  
As she walked off, Genesis leaned in.  
“Anne had a bit of a freak out one time and Hikari was on the receiving end,” he explained her words.  
Sephiroth raised his eyebrows in alarm.  
“So that’s why she had two black eyes and a bruise on her neck when we met up,” he said and Genesis blinked as the song ended.  
“Hikari was going out with you when it happened?” he said tilting his head to the side.  
“Yes, she didn’t want to talk about it,” Sephiroth murmured “I didn’t know she was close with Anne.”  
Genesis grimaced.  
“Yes, Anne has her phases when stress gets to her or if her hormones get to her. I think it’s time for you to move target before you seriously get hurt.”  
Wait, why did Genesis care about Sephiroth targeting Anne? Oh yes, he didn’t want his best friend being humiliated even further by being beaten up by a girl. Yes, that was the reason. But Sephiroth just shrugged him off with a knowing smirk.  
“She,” he said pointing to Anne as she bowed to the applauding audience and retreated offstage “is going to regret that she showed me what she has to offer.”  
Hikari came back with his free drink as he chuckled and Genesis pulled an unsure face. What could his best friend be possibly planning?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's meet Vincent Mentalis

Vincent Mentalis, not Valentine, sat and watched as Anne lay on her desk in her horse-riding gear, her riding crop clasped tightly in her hand. He grimaced when the bell rung loudly and saw all the stuff she had to carry back home. When everyone got up and left the room, she remained in the same spot, unaffected by the fact she had to get out of form. Vincent M stood up before Vincent V and reached Anne, silently telling their form tutor to leave. Vincent V got the message as he packed up his stuff and walked out. Vincent M gently placed a hand on Anne’s shoulder.  
“Do you need help carrying your stuff?” he asked as she looked up at him with tear stained eyes.  
He twitched as Anne wiped her eyes and nodded.  
“You don’t have to help me,” she mumbled and stood up.  
Vincent tilted his head as he remembered her rough day from Sephiroth. He didn’t have an easy day either, come to think of it.  
**************  
Registration…  
**************  
“Zack?”  
“Yup!” Zack bounced up with a grin.  
“Luka?”  
“Hn,” Luka nodded.  
“Luna?”  
“Yes, sir,” Luna smiled widely.  
“Damon?”  
“Yes, sir,” Damon said subconsciously as he read his book at the back of the class.  
“Selena?”  
Vincent V ducked when Selena lost her concentration and hit the hockey ball near his head.  
“Sorry, sir, here, sir,” she said whilst going to retrieve it.  
Vincent M rolled his eyes as Vincent V went back to taking the register.  
“Anne?”  
… Both Vincents looked around and frowned in confusion when Anne hadn’t arrived yet.  
“Has anyone seen Anne?” Vincent V asked to his class.  
Everyone shook their heads and Vincent V marked Anne as absent in his register. Then the door slammed open and Anne stormed in wearing just her tights, signature waistcoat and undergarments. She stormed up to Vincent V, snatched the pen and marked herself as present.  
“Before you ask, get your son to return my clothes,” she hissed at him before storming to her desk and sitting in her chair, hugging herself for warmth.   
Both Vincents were a bit alarmed at Anne’s state and had looked away when her bra slipped slightly, Vincent M blushing lightly.  
Sephiroth: 11  
Anne: 13  
**************************************  
Period 1: Stunt Training for Vincent M…  
**************************************  
Vincent M stayed well away from Dune as he did his exercises for stunt training. He ignored the winks and kisses that were blown in his direction, extending his leg and hooking his foot on his shoulder. He glared at the clock as he irritably noticed that Vincent V was late for the class.  
“Right,” Vincent M turned his head when Vincent V slammed the door opened and stormed in with Anne’s missing blouse, skirt and shoes “I will be a bit late to start the lesson so start running through what we were doing on Friday.”  
“Father, you are boring,” Sephiroth bluntly said as he followed Vincent V closely, trying to grab Anne’s clothes back from him.  
Vincent M gave him a glare from his position as Vincent V held the clothes out of reach, giving him a similar glare.  
“You have no right to take what doesn’t belong to you,” Vincent V said as he put his bags down then began stalking out of the classroom.  
Sephiroth sighed in disappointment and watched his father until he reached the doorway.  
“Wait, you might want to give this back to her…”  
Vincent M’s eyes widened and a slight blush went across his face as he saw Sephiroth hold up a black laced bra for Vincent V to take and give back to Anne. Vincent V’s eyes widened in a similar fashion, without the blush, as he strode back to Sephiroth and snatched the undergarment off him.  
Sephiroth: 12  
Anne: 13  
“I will not ask how you managed to obtain this, considering I saw it on her fifteen minutes ago,” he said as Vincent M looked away politely.  
Sephiroth smirked as Vincent V placed the bra amongst the other pieces of clothing. Blood red eyes glared at him fiercely.  
“Shouldn’t you be going to Athletics?” he asked irritably.  
Sephiroth’s eyes lit up in delight.  
“Yes, I should,” he smirked widely “Anne’s in my class.”  
Vincent V paused as Sephiroth waltzed past him with a gleeful hum. Vincent M would have facepalmed if he had not been in an awkward position.  
*********************************  
Period 2: Karate for Vincent M…  
***********************************  
Vincent M was directly behind Sephiroth as the class went through their kata. Sephiroth was talking to Seito and he could just hear the conversation was about Anne. Seito, who had similar features to Sephiroth, held a soft smirk as they discussed Sephiroth’s intentions about the poor girl. Vincent M closed his eyes, having known the kata off by heart, and began to focus his senses solely on listening to the conversation.  
“It sounds rather devious, Seph,” Seito said “But she knows me quite well. Plus she’s seen us together in Athletics.”   
Sephiroth chuckled softly.  
“That’s why I have green eye contacts for you,” Sephiroth said “I’ll help you put them in after Karate and we can trick her.”  
Seito hummed unsurely.  
“I don’t know, I know her well and she can even tell apart the most identical of twins.”  
“Relax,” Sephiroth pushed Seito on “It’ll be fun.”  
Seito sighed in defeat.  
“Alright,” he said as they ended the kata “We’ll see how it goes.”  
Vincent opened his golden eyes and glowered at the two friends.  
*****************************************  
Period 3: Spare Period for Vincent M…  
**************************************  
Vincent M stalked Seito and Sephiroth to the common room after they had come out of the toilets, Seito now looking exactly like Sephiroth. Vincent didn’t like the way they shared an identical smirk as well. He was sure that they must be related in some way. Maybe cousins? Though they looked too much alike to even be cousins. Surely they must be half-brothers? Wait, they look too alike to be half-brothers, oh never mind! Vincent watched as Sephiroth told Seito to wait outside and went into the common room. He approached Seito and grabbed him by the cheek harshly.  
“A-Ah!” Seito’s cheeks went slightly red as he spotted Vincent and he snatched his cheek back, rubbing it sorely.  
“What?” he asked irritably.  
“What are you planning to do to poor Anne?” Vincent asked with narrowed eyes.  
Seito blinked then smirked widely as he spotted Vincent’s determination.  
“You like her, don’t you?” he accused immediately.  
Vincent’s eyes widened and he shook his head immediately.  
“No, I do not,” he retorted “As a fellow classmate, I’m just looking out for her since she’s got Asperger Syndrome, therefore she is socially awkward and I would like to keep an eye out for any bullying that might happen to her.”  
The more Vincent talked, the more Seito smirked and the more Seito smirked, the more Vincent began blushing without knowing it.  
“You like her,” he said with a wide grin.  
“…If you go through with this, I’ll tell Damon,” Vincent M quickly said.  
Seito raised an eyebrow. Seito was currently going out with Damon and Damon wouldn’t think twice in holding back sex if Seito did anything that he wouldn’t approve of. So far, nothing had gone wrong between the two of them. Seito sighed and leaned back on the wall behind him.  
“Why would Damon care about Anne?” he sneered.  
“Because we are all in the same form,” Vincent said “So I suggest…”  
“KYA!!!”  
Sephiroth: 13  
Anne: 13  
“That’s my cue~!” Seito opened the common room door and waltzed in.  
“WAIT!”  
Vincent followed him into the common room and froze when he saw Anne sitting on Sephiroth’s lap with his hands up her shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw him and Seito and she flailed about.  
“Vincent, HELP!!!”  
Vincent blinked at her while Seito sighed.  
“She doesn’t even ask for my help,” he said and advanced towards Anne nonetheless.  
When Vincent saw him kneel down and place his hands on her thighs, he began running forward to tackle him down. When Seito was down on the floor, Anne managed to head-butt Sephiroth in the chin.  
Sephiroth: 13  
Anne: 14  
“Ow, ow, ow,” Sephiroth placed Anne on the floor and bent over, blinking.  
Anne watched with a frown as Vincent pinned Seito to the floor as Sephiroth blinked out a green contact.  
“Huh?” Anne tilted her head in confusion.  
Vincent blinked then looked down at Seito to figure out that he was pinning down Sephiroth instead.  
“Oh…” he said as Sephiroth smirked.  
“Uh…uh…” Anne stuttered as she stared at Seito then looked at Sephiroth “Ah! My brain hurts! I’m telling Damon!”  
She got up and ran outside the common room as Seito shouted for her to wait and began running after her, begging her not to tell Damon. Vincent blinked slowly as Sephiroth sat up and smirked at him.  
“So, you like my little Anne then?” he smirked deviously and Vincent swallowed harshly “And you thought I was Seito too?”  
“My apologies,” Vincent muttered as he didn’t bother getting up from Sephiroth’s lap.  
He hissed in pain as Sephiroth grabbed him by his silver hair and tilted his head up to meet his eyes.  
“You shall not go near her,” Sephiroth growled and Vincent’s eyes widened when he realised that he was being serious “She is my target, my Anne and I will not show mercy to anyone who tries to take her away from me. Do I make myself clear?”  
Vincent swallowed and managed a weak smirk.  
“Anne can choose who she would like to be with,” he said.  
Sephiroth snarled and lifted his head when the door opened. Dune came in with his French textbooks and dropped them when he saw Vincent and Sephiroth on the floor. Vincent winced when he saw the look of clear hurt in Dune’s blood red eyes.  
“Vincent?” he whispered with a dry throat.  
Vincent opened his mouth to explain but Sephiroth smirked and began talking before him.  
“It’s what it looks like,” he said and Vincent shot him a glare “We’re fighting for a girl.”  
“A-A girl?!” Dune looked even more hurt.  
Vincent bit his lip, wishing that Sephiroth had said something other than that. Dune had been after his heart for years and Vincent had showed no signs of interest. Vincent admitted it, he was bisexual but he didn’t dare show any hints to Dune who would probably pounce at the opportunity.  
“Who is she?” Dune asked with a miserable pout.  
Sephiroth grinned wider and Vincent suddenly remembered the friendship that Dune had with Anne.  
“Anne Lockhart,” Sephiroth said and Vincent punched his face too late.  
The door slammed closed and Vincent cursed under his breath, jumping to his feet and running after Dune, picking up his French books on the way.  
“Dune, wait!” he shouted as he chased Dune outside.  
“Leave me alone!” Dune wailed as he turned the corner to go to the football fields.  
Vincent followed him closely until he spotted Dune with Flint outside the tennis courts, crying into his hair despairingly. Flint, in his tennis clothes, put an arm around Dune and hugged him tightly.  
“Hey, hey,” he comforted Dune who began hiccupping with his sobs “It’s alright, Dune. It was bound to happen sometime.”  
“But I wasn’t ready for it!” Dune cried “And why did it have to be Anne?! She is such a bitch, attracting everyone’s attention towards her!”  
“Hey, hey…” Flint hugged Dune tighter and draped his hair around Dune like a warm blanket “I’m sure Anne doesn’t feel the same way for him.”  
Dune glared at Flint who winced slightly. Vincent listened from his hiding place as Dune began crying again.  
“It’s not fair,” he sobbed “She could have any guy in the school and Vincent falls into her trap. Why can’t she just stay with Sephiroth and then…”  
“You know he might go for another girl,” Flint sighed and Dune punched him in the gut to shut him up.  
“Any girl that isn’t my friend,” he growled softly “I just…”  
Vincent suddenly caught Flint’s eye and froze. Flint raised an unimpressed eyebrow then made a motion for Vincent to leave. Vincent placed Dune’s French books down and walked away.  
*********************  
Period 4: Kendo for Vincent M…  
***********************************  
Vincent and Luka were having a match during Kendo. Vincent found that he couldn’t concentrate as well as he wanted because the guilt of upsetting Dune was in his mind. When Luka struck the winning point, he didn’t feel upset for losing like he normally did and sat down on the sidelines, waiting for the next person to challenge Luka go up. Asa scooted next to him and poked his shoulder.  
“I heard what happened last period,” he whispered and Vincent glared at him.  
“How much did you see?” he asked.  
“Well I was going back to Magician Training and nearly got run over by Anne and Seito,” Asa shrugged “Then I saw Dune go into the common room then run out crying, you following him. So I followed you guys out of curiosity and heard everything.”  
Vincent scowled and turned away.  
“Look, I don’t feel that much for Anne,” he tried to call his bluff but Asa chuckled softly.  
“Who hasn’t had a crush on Anne?” Asa nudged him playfully “I had a crush once but we don’t spend too much time together so I got over that.”  
Vincent stared at him long and hard then sighed.  
“I just want to keep an eye on her because Sephiroth is targeting her,” he said and Asa nodded knowingly.  
“We’re setting up the Keep-An-Eye-Out-For-Our-Anne group if you want to join,” Asa smirked as Vincent cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.  
“I work alone,” he said and Asa snorted.  
“Yeah, whatever. I’m just saying…”  
Asa leaned in towards Vincent.  
“If you need to talk, I can always keep an extra ear out for you.”  
Vincent nodded stiffly as Sephiroth rose to challenge Luka.  
***********************************  
Period 5: Boxing for Vincent M…  
************************************  
Vincent punched as hard as he could into the pad that Angeal held up before him. He ignored the looks that Dune directed towards him and only punched harder whenever he caught Dune’s eye, still guilty about upsetting him. It was all Sephiroth’s fault anyway! Vincent imagined the punching pad to be Sephiroth and continued punching hard.  
“Vincent?”  
Vincent ignored Angeal as he began kicking the pad as well as punching.  
“Vincent.”  
Vincent paused as Angeal placed a hand on his head.  
“What’s got you so worked up?” Angeal asked with a concerned frown.  
Vincent let his arms drop and he sighed, leaning against Angeal’s hand.  
“Sephiroth,” he growled.  
“Hm…take a small break. You’ve been punching the pad for about twenty-five minutes and your arms must be tired.”  
“Yes, sir,” Vincent murmured as he slunk off to one of the benches.  
He grabbed a towel and draped it over his shoulders with a sigh. He closed his eyes and went into a meditative state, just forgetting everything that had happened during the day.  
*******************************************  
Period 6: Cross Country for Vincent M…  
*************************************************  
When Vincent did his warm-up exercises before going running on the Cross Country course, he spotted Anne reading a book by the football pitches. He glanced at Mr Velox, the cross country teacher, before sneaking off to check if she was alright. He then saw that she was writing something in her diary, where she normally wrote her stories in. Approaching her from behind, he peered over her shoulder. It was just some character profiles. He coughed and Anne screamed, dropping her journal and looking over her shoulder.  
“Oh,” she sighed in relief “It’s just you.”  
Vincent let her see one of his rare smiles and sat down next to her.  
“Are you alright?” he asked.  
Anne sighed and leaned back.  
“Well, during last period, singing, Sephiroth put ice down my back which made me scream during our warm-up.”  
Sephiroth: 14  
Anne: 14  
Vincent winced sympathetically as she smiled up at him warmly.  
“But I haven’t seen him since,” she said while picking up her journal.  
“What have you got left?”  
Anne sighed as she closed her eyes.  
“First period was Athletics, then it was Drama, then it was the spare period…”  
She blushed at the memory and shook her head.  
“Period four was trampoline, period five was singing and now I have a free. Afterwards I have, Archery, Creative Writing, Dance, Ice-Skating, Japanese and Horse-Riding.”  
Vincent looked up when the whistle blew.  
“I need to leave,” he said and stood up “See you later.”  
“Bye!”  
Vincent smiled again as he jogged over to his class.  
************  
Lunchtime…  
*************  
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, SEPHIROTH!!!!” a drenched Anne yelled as she ran across the playground with a bottle of water ready to pour over Sephiroth.  
Vincent watched as she chased Sephiroth around, not really catching up and sighed.  
Sephiroth: 15  
Anne: 14  
*********  
Period 7: English for Vincent M…  
********************************  
Vincent sat in between Erik and Zero, focusing on his work with narrowed eyes. A note was passed to him from Erik and he raised an eyebrow at him. Erik shrugged as he opened the note.  
“It’d probably be best to apologize to Dune.”  
Vincent crumpled up the note and tossed it in the bin before focusing on his work.  
*****************************  
Period 8: Gym for Vincent M…  
*****************************  
Vincent ignored the glares that he was getting from Flint on the other side of the room as he did his stretches alone. He sent a glare at Flint when it got too annoying and Flint gave him the finger. Vincent narrowed his eyes. This was getting out of hand, he hadn’t been planning to apologize to Dune, it was Sephiroth who should be apologizing. And Dune overreacted anyway, it wasn’t any of his business if Vincent happened to have a small crush on one of his friends. Vincent nodded to himself firmly as he continued ignoring Flint’s off-putting stares.  
************************  
Period 9: Rowing for Vincent M…  
********************************  
Vincent caught Seito’s eye as he changed into his rowing gear. Seito grimaced and walked over to him.  
“Hey, I heard what happened with Dune,” he started.  
“Has Damon withheld sex from you yet?” Vincent asked bluntly.  
“Uh, no, Anne didn’t tell him in the end…”  
“Then I don’t want you to talk about Dune, get Sephiroth to apologize to him,” Vincent retorted and stormed off.  
**********************************  
Period 10: Fencing for Vincent M…  
**********************************  
Vincent twitched as he was up against Flint in fencing.  
“Flint,” he nodded.  
“Jerk,” Flint nodded.  
Vincent’s brow twitched as he put his mask on and began the match.  
***************************************  
Period 11: Spare Period for Vincent M…  
***************************************  
Vincent finally spotted Dune studying in the corner of the common room and marched over to him.  
“Come on,” he snarled, grabbing Dune by the wrist and marching off with him dragging behind.  
Dune stumbled and tried to tug his wrist out of Vincent’s grip. Vincent dragged him over to the tennis courts and turned to him with folded arms.  
“I’m sorry,” he said to the tearful sculptor “Even though it should be Sephiroth saying it, I’m sorry. Just don’t send your friend after me.”  
Dune sniffed and blinked in confusion. Vincent rolled his eyes and pulled up his shirt to reveal the large bruises that Flint had given him during Fencing.  
“Just don’t,” he said with a menacing glower as Dune covered his mouth in shock “Having someone targeting my friend is enough work for me if she’s socially awkward and mentally unstable.”  
Dune lowered his hand and nodded with a pout.  
“Good, now tell Flint to get off my back,” Vincent pulled his shirt down and stalked off.  
Well, at least that problem was sorted out.  
***********************************  
Period 12: Painting for Vincent M…  
************************************  
Finally. Peace and quiet at last. Vincent felt at ease as he painted on his easel with his choice of paints. He had his headphones plugged into his ears and calming music was playing through them. He closed his eyes and began to paint that way too, glad that Sephiroth was far, far away, at least Vincent hoped that he was far, far away anyway.  
*********  
Present…  
***********  
Vincent placed a hand on Anne’s shoulder who wiped her tears.  
“Sephiroth hit my butt with my riding crop,” she muttered.  
Sephiroth: 16  
Anne: 14  
Vincent twitched then hugged Anne tightly.  
“Just forget about him,” he muttered as Anne tensed “Go to the spa or something, relax and just forget about him.”  
Anne hugged him back and buried her face into his chest.  
“I don’t want to go home, Sephiroth knows my address,” she murmured.  
“Then come round mine,” Vincent offered and picked up some of her bags “Come on, I take the train.”  
Anne nodded and followed him out of the classroom. Vincent smiled at her. What could life possibly be like without her?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rumours begin

Diana and Flint Alacris walked into the school building, Diana holding Flint’s bright red hair in her arms, her German books on top of it. Flint ignored the stares of the younger students as he carried his Judo kit whilst heading over to his form room, Diana following him closely. Diana sighed as she escorted him into Lazard’s classroom and lay the large thick mane out on the table so it would dry. Flint placed his Judo kit down and opened one of Diana’s German books as Diana pulled out a hair dryer and began to quicken to process of drying Flint’s ridiculously long hair.  
“Detective film.”  
“Krimi Film.”  
“Romance film.”  
“Romanze Film.”  
“Comedy film.”  
“Komödie Film.”  
“Horror film.”  
“Uh…”  
Diana paused and closed her eyes with a sigh.  
“It’s on the tip of my tongue,” she murmured.  
“Oh, Diana!” Diana’s best friend, Daisy, came waltzing into the classroom.  
“Not now, Daisy, I have a German test to revise for,” Diana groaned as Flint gave a sideway glare at Daisy.  
Flint hunched his shoulders and stared at the pages of the textbook intently as Daisy stood by Diana. He never liked Daisy, she was such a gossip girl.  
“You’ll never guess what I have heard!”  
See?  
“Daisy, can’t this wait?” Diana grumbled as she began separating Flint’s hair into chunks to dry it out better.  
“No it can’t,” Daisy insisted as she pushed some of Flint’s hair away, making it land on the floor with a loud wet splat “You won’t believe what I’ve just heard from Asa.”  
“Oh, how much did you pay him now to get some dirt on Anne?” Diana sighed tiredly as Flint gave Daisy another glare and pulled his hair back up onto the desk.  
Daisy just giggled and leaned in.  
“She’s just spent the night at Vincent Mentalis’s house,” she whispered making Diana snap her attention to her immediately.  
“Vincent Mentalis?” she said warily, looking at her brother who lowered the textbook down immediately when he heard the name.  
Daisy grinned and sidled up to her.  
“Yes, and do you know what that means?” she asked with a devilish grin.  
Another thing that Flint hated about Daisy was that she spread rumours based on truth. The skinny anorexic bitch loved to make other people’s lives a misery and if there was someone in her way of anything, she would crush them. Now, word had got out that Anne had a small attraction to Sky, Daisy’s infatuation. Daisy, as arrogant as she was, decided that she was better for Sky than Anne and automatically assumed that Sky would choose her. So she decided to ask him out, and much to her grief, Sky rejected her which made her automatically hate Anne. Flint didn’t know what Daisy was paying Asa for to get information on Anne, but he had that feeling that Asa wasn’t feeling proud on listening out for any juicy gossip Anne provided for Daisy.   
“Look, Daisy,” Diana sighed as she went back to focusing on Flint’s hair “I don’t really have time for this.”  
“But she could be after your brother next,” Daisy said as Flint glowered at her “I swear, she is trying to sleep with every boy in the school and she already has Vincent.”  
“Daisy, Anne isn’t like that!” Diana’s voice got higher.  
“She’s got that Asperger Syndrome thingy,” Daisy dismissed “I bet someone dared her to do it and she took it seriously.”  
“Daisy, that’s enough.”  
Flint slammed the German textbook down to acknowledge his existence and looked at Daisy with a glare.  
“She may have Asperger Syndrome but she is high-functioning,” he said as Daisy rolled her eyes “Her case isn’t as bad as other people with it so she isn’t easily swayed.”  
“Yeah, but what do you know about her?” Daisy asked “She’s like, a total bitch if she’s gotten every boy’s attention, including yours.”  
Flint’s fist pulsed and Diana gently rubbed her thumb and forefinger on his neck to soothe him. Flint took a deep breath and sat back, closing his eyes while his sister continued drying his hair.  
“So, anyway,” Daisy continued “I was thinking that we should like warn everyone about it.”  
“Daisy, just get out!” Diana suddenly turned on her best friend and slapped her “I will not stand here while you try and make the most innocent girl in this school look like a total slut! I will certainly not take part in anything else which will result in her getting hurt or having her go into another emotional break down!”  
Daisy stumbled in surprise and when she didn’t move, Diana grabbed her by her mousey brown curls and dragged her out of the form room.  
“See you at registration!” she shouted before slamming the door.  
**************************************  
Meanwhile with Anne and Vincent M…  
**************************************  
Anne yawned as Vincent gave her a piggyback into the school building. The silveret smiled softly as she nuzzled his head unconsciously.  
“I don’t want to go to Archery,” she mumbled “It’s too early.”  
Vincent chuckled quietly and shook his head.  
“Well, I don’t want to have English in the morning either,” he admitted.  
Anne yawned again as she fell asleep quite quickly on Vincent who just smiled more. Vincent shifted his grip to a more comfortable one and began to ascend the stairs on the way to their form room. He paused and his smile faded when he saw Sephiroth at the top of the staircase, a fierce glower in his eyes.  
“So, I heard she stayed the night at your house,” he said coldly as Vincent stopped midway.  
“What does it have to do with you?” Vincent challenged as Sephiroth began to descend towards them.  
Anne didn’t stir as Sephiroth stared at her sleeping face. Vincent would have moved away if he hadn’t had his arms supporting Anne and he was in the middle of the staircase. He didn’t risk going downstairs backwards and Sephiroth was blocking the way up. So when Sephiroth reached out and ran the back of his hand down Anne’s cheek, the best he could do was give him a warning glare. Sephiroth smirked.  
“Her skin is very smooth and warm, isn’t it?” he asked and Vincent glowered at him.  
With a chuckle, he suddenly seized Vincent by the throat. Vincent tightened his grip on Anne and held his breath as Sephiroth moved his face close to his.  
“Nothing happened between you two, right?” he asked, his jade green gaze connecting with Vincent’s golden one.  
Vincent didn’t dare provoke the arguably stronger male so gave him a sincere glare.  
“She slept in my bed while I slept on a mattress on the floor,” he replied calmly and winced when Sephiroth’s grip tightened “We…only hugged. Nothing intimate happened.”  
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes before releasing his hold.  
“Pitiful fool,” he commented as Vincent coughed and continued to descend down the stairs.  
Vincent glowered at him with a snarl before shifting Anne back into a more comfortable position and continued to ascend the stairs to their form room. He paused as Anne stirred and hugged him tighter.  
“You’re moving too fast,” she yawned and nuzzled his head tiredly.  
Vincent smiled softly and began ascending the stairs at a slower pace. As he did, he took a moment to glance down and see Sephiroth talking to Genesis on the bottom floor. Why did Sephiroth care so much about his current target?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne's 'date' with Sky

“You brought Cloud into our sketch for the Saturday party?” Sephiroth said with narrowed eyes at Genesis.  
Genesis grinned and shrugged.  
“Of course,” he smirked “You’ve seen how feminine he looks in a dress, especially that purple one that he wore last year when he lost out on a bet.”  
Sephiroth groaned and rolled his eyes.  
“You do realise that there is going to be a lot of conflict during rehearsals?”  
“Yes, yes, yes, that’s why I have arranged the script so you and Cloud are against each other in character. It’ll be fine.”  
Sephiroth groaned and turned away.  
“Who else have you rounded up?” he asked.  
“Zack and Angeal.”  
Sephiroth snorted and raised an eyebrow at Genesis.  
“Angeal can’t fit into the biggest dress that the Drama department have to offer,” he stated “Even if we have someone from the sewing department adjust it, he’ll split it with his muscles.”  
“That’s why he is playing the man who is going to get seduced by the four of us,” Genesis beamed and Sephiroth choked.  
“No!” he said as Genesis cackled “I am not going to seduce or flirt with another man! That is pushing the boundaries, Genesis!”  
“It’s for Anne~!” Genesis sung and pressed a copy of his script into Sephiroth’s hands “Oh, and I’ve picked out the perfect dress for you by the way.”  
“Dare I ask?” Sephiroth grimaced.  
Genesis smirked.  
“The dress that Anne wore in the ball scene in Cinderella,” he said and walked off “More commonly known as the Ice Princess dress. Don’t worry, I’ll have Crystal adjust the dress for your size so you’ll fit into it perfectly!”  
Sephiroth gripped the script at the mention of the pastel blue dress that he remembered seeing in the Drama wardrobe. He turned to Genesis’s retreating figure.  
“I’ll just say now that I do not look good in blue, particularly light blue,” he called after him and Genesis turned to him with a smirk.  
“Don’t worry,” he winked “With the right amount of make-up and hair styling, you’ll look fab, honey!”  
Sephiroth froze at the mention of make-up when Genesis blew him a kiss and sauntered off. He slammed the script into his forehead with a groan.  
“What have I gotten myself into?” he moaned.  
**************  
Period 6…  
*****************  
“Hurry, hurry, hurry~!” Jade sang as she dragged Anne across the football pitches and towards the stables.  
“Jade, shouldn’t you be in Maths?” Anne asked as she winced when her wrist was nearly twisted.  
“Shouldn’t you be with your future husband?” Jade asked with a wink.  
“You better not be talking about Sephiroth,” Anne growled at her.  
Jade laughed and shook her head.  
“No, I mean Sky!”  
“Sky?”  
Anne blushed lightly as they finally arrived at the stables and Jade placed a bucket of carrots into her arms.  
“Good luck!” she grinned “Now, I’d better get to Maths before Ms Copia gets mad.”  
She pushed Anne into the stables, making Anne stumble and fall into the straw flooring of the stables. The bucket landed with a loud clang, scattering carrots everywhere. Sky turned away from his favourite horse, Lightning, and smiled sympathetically when he saw Anne sprawled out on the floor before him.  
“You alright there, Anne?” he asked as he bent down and helped scoop the carrots back into the bucket.  
Anne nodded as she scrambled around to put the carrots back into the bucket. Sky hauled the bucket up with a grunt and smiled down at Anne.  
“You want to feed them with me?” he offered.  
Anne nodded vigorously and Sky chuckled as she shyly followed him around the stables.  
******************  
Half an hour later…  
**********************  
Sky and Anne sat side by side on the fence, watching the football match. Sephiroth was on a different pitch to the one they were seated at so Anne felt a bit more relaxed. With a small smile as Zack scored, leaving Zenna stumbling and use rude finger gestures towards him, Anne leaned on Sky’s shoulder. She frowned softly when Sky brought an arm around her shoulders, giving her a quick hug and looked up at him. Sky began laughing as Luka ran in between Zenna and Zack quickly before they could end up in a tussle. Anne watched and smiled softly with a shrug then sighed, pulling away from Sky.  
“Hey, Sky?” she said and Sky took his attention away from the football match “I’m not sure if I feel that kind of feeling for you.”  
“Then what do you feel?” Sky asked curiously, tilting his head to the side.  
Anne shrugged and stared at the grass confusedly.  
“…Like a big brother,” she decided and looked up at him with a small smile “I can’t imagine us going out at all.”  
Sky chuckled and leaned back.  
“I thought as much,” he sighed “I don’t think it would have worked if we went into a relationship.”  
Anne shook her head in agreement and sighed.  
“Sorry for getting Jade to set us up,” she apologized meekly “It wasn’t intentional…”  
Sky smiled and ruffled her hair.  
“Nah, don’t worry,” he sighed and continued watching the match “Jade’s been setting me up on so many blind dates, I’m sure I know every girl in the school’s favourite colour.”  
Anne laughed and sighed when Luka had Zenna in a headlock, still attempting to prevent any violence. Sky grinned and nudged her shoulder.  
“Lunch next and Jade gave me a swimming costume while Asa has loaned his swimming trunks to me,” he whispered in her ear “Fancy taking a dip in the outdoor pool?”  
Anne’s eyes lit up and she nodded.  
“Let’s go now then,” Sky smirked as Anne giggled while they jumped off the fence and began running over to the outdoor swimming pool on the other side of the school.  
*****************  
An hour later…  
******************  
“Oh, Sky,” Serenity sighed softly as she and Sky sat in the library “I was really hoping you two would get together. You two would look like such a good couple.”  
Sky snorted as he glanced at her while shelving the books.  
“No, Serenity,” he sighed and leaned on the bookcase once he was done “I couldn’t possibly go out with her if she only sees me as a big brother.”  
Serenity sighed and threw her hands up in the air.  
“That’s the problem!” she said “That’s why you can’t get a girlfriend! You act like everyone’s big brother!”  
Sky chuckled and shook his head.  
“Well, I do have two younger sisters,” he smirked and Serenity glowered at him.  
“Just because I’m ten minutes younger than you doesn’t mean that you have to emphasise that fact every single day,” she growled and Sky laughed again, ruffling her blue hair fondly.  
“Lighten up, Serenity,” he said and earned a slap on the shoulder.  
Serenity pouted and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.  
“The only girl that has ever thought of you as a boyfriend is that little gossip girl, Daisy,” she scowled in disgust at Daisy’s name “This morning, she was telling everyone that Anne was the new school whore. Ha! Where on earth did she get that idea from?”  
Sky seemed repulsed by the news and sighed.  
“When Anne finds out about the rumours about her, she might get into another emotional stress breakdown,” he murmured worriedly.  
Serenity grimaced and sighed.  
“Where is she now?” she asked.  
“Off to get changed into her dancing clothes,” Sky smirked “Oh, I bet she’s going to be paired up with Genesis again today.”  
An enraged scream was suddenly heard from above them and a loud crash was heard shortly after. Sky and Serenity snapped their heads up when they recognized the scream.  
“Anne?” Sky murmured.  
What could have happened?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened with Anne

Anne hummed as she walked down the corridor to her locker, a towel wrapped around her shoulders. She looked down at Jade’s swimming costume and sighed. Jade liked to expose too much skin. Her navy blue costume had a split at the front, exposing Anne’s belly button and the back exposed the whole of her back, along with her embarrassing acne. Plus it dipped quite low, Anne was worried that Sky might accidentally see the crack of her ass when she did the front crawl around him. It was strapless too, showing off Anne’s bony shoulders. And it didn’t support her breasts as much as her normal swimming costumes did, Anne was dead embarrassed when she felt her breasts move up and down. Anne didn’t want to waste much time lingering in public with the swimming costume, especially if Sephiroth is on the prowl.   
Anne dropped her locker key when she saw SLUT sprayed on her locker and she stared at it in confusion. She saw a note stuck out from her locker and pulled it out shakily, unfolding it and snarled when she recognized Ditzy Daisy’s curly handwriting.  
***  
Slutty Annie can’t seem to stick to one guy  
Slutty Annie needs to sleep with all the boys in the school  
Slutty Annie has all the boys’ attention because she’s too lonely  
Slutty Annie will be willing to sleep with her teachers for good marks  
Slutty Annie will soon have all the boys grovelling for her body  
Slutty Annie will be a world class porn star when she grows up  
Slutty Annie might start to work right now because her family is so poor  
Slutty Annie will never be smart like her sister  
Slutty Annie will burn in hell for sinning for her lust  
***  
“That’s not true,” she murmured and her whole body shook then dropped the note “I’m not a slut, I’m a virgin. I don’t have all of the boys’ attention… It’s…Sephiroth’s fault. I did that performance to get back at him. And no-one saw anything. I’m not a slut, I…”  
Anne suddenly saw red and she screamed, throwing a punch into her locker. Pain shot up her arm as the whole locker jolted and fell over on its side from the sudden disturbance. Anne began crying and ran off, down the stairs and out of the main doors.  
***************************  
Meanwhile with Sephiroth…  
****************************  
Sephiroth paused as he saw a blur run out of the school gates from the drama rooms. He blanked out Genesis’s retorts towards Zack as the young man accidentally tore his pale pink dress that Garnet was trying to fit on him. He recognized the length of the hair that followed the figure and he wondered why Anne would abruptly leave the school grounds. And there wasn’t much time until the seventh period start. He blinked when Crystal rose from her place.  
“Alright, I’m done fitting it for now,” she said and Sephiroth immediately reached behind him to unzip the damn dress off him.  
Crystal blushed and looked away as Sephiroth stepped out of the dress in his boxers and began pulling his trousers up and putting his shirt on.  
“Sephiroth, we need to rehearse our lines,” Genesis said as Garnet pulled the dress off Zack and started working on the nasty tear.  
Sephiroth paused and glanced at the gates before locking on Genesis’s gaze.  
“We don’t have much time left,” he commented but Genesis tutted him to silence him.  
“Every minute counts,” he said and turned to Cloud to see how well Ruka was doing with his fitting.  
Sephiroth groaned then glanced at Hikari who had been fitting Genesis’s dress on. He discretely leaned in to whisper in her ear.  
“I’ve just seen Anne run out of the school.”  
Hikari looked up at him with alarmed eyes.  
“She doesn’t usually go out of school unaccompanied unless she’s been broken mentally or she’s remembered something and needed to go back home…” she murmured “She could get hurt if she’s mentally broken…”  
“Cover for me, I might be late for Science,” Sephiroth suddenly said as he flipped the window open and jumped out.  
“Sephiroth, get back here!” Genesis shrieked as he landed and ran after Anne.  
****************************  
Meanwhile with Anne…  
************************  
Anne sniffed as her bare feet ached while she sat on one of the swings in the park near her home. Gravel stuck to the sole of her feet as she toed the tarmac underneath her and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she began crying more, covering her face despairingly. She didn’t see the figure approaching her until the chains of the swing rattled. Anne raised her head and her eyes widened when she saw Sephiroth.  
“You!”  
She stood up, dropping her towel in the process and slapped him harshly.  
Sephiroth: 16  
Anne: 15  
Sephiroth blinked as he stumbled and rubbed his cheek tenderly.  
“I take it everything is not alright,” he raised an eyebrow and Anne burst into tears, covering her face.  
“It’s all your fault!” she shouted at him as he tilted his head and stepped forward.  
Anne’s breath hitched as Sephiroth embraced her tenderly and sat down on the swing, gently swinging them back and forth. Anne was carefully shifted so that she was straddling on his lap. Sephiroth hugged her to his chest, hushing her and kissing her head every so now and then. Anne blushed and hugged him tightly, sobbing uncontrollably. Sephiroth rested his cheek on her head. He smirked softly when he ran a hand down her arms and down her back comfortingly.   
“What’s the matter?” he asked.  
Anne sniffed and rubbed her eyes.  
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she murmured.  
Sephiroth smiled at how cute she sounded and hugged her a little tighter, holding back a purr as he tangled his fingers into her sopping wet hair. He gently wrung out her hair and kissed her neck gently.  
“Do you want to go back?”  
“No…”  
Anne looked up at him and tilted her head.  
“Why are you being so nice?” she asked.  
Sephiroth chuckled and kissed her forehead, running his hands through her hair.  
“Perhaps I’m tired of this pointless little game,” he murmured.  
Anne blinked and bowed her head with a soft blush. She then looked up and tilted her head to the other side with a pout. Sephiroth hesitated, somewhat enchanted by the cute sight.  
Anne: 16  
Sephiroth: 16  
“Game set and match, little Anne,” Sephiroth decided and patted her head “Will you accept my proposal to go steady?”  
Anne blushed more and hunched her shoulders. She opened her mouth then closed it and nodded, leaning her forehead on his chest. Sephiroth smirked and took her chin, lifting it up so he could stare into her eyes. Anne sniffed and rubbed her nose shyly. Sephiroth leaned in and she blushed up to her ears and closed her eyes, shivering.  
“I do hope that’s just you being cold, little Anne,” Sephiroth teased.  
“S-Stop calling me little…” Anne whined “I hate it when…”  
Her eyes flew open as Sephiroth stole her first kiss and her eyes seemed to burn at the thought of having her first kiss unexpectedly stolen. Her eyes fluttered to a close as she began to kiss back timidly and Sephiroth chuckled into the kiss, grunting when she landed a soft blow into his gut. Sephiroth pulled away and patted her head while rubbing the spot that she had hit him.  
“That was uncalled for,” he scolded her mockingly and Anne yelped as she was sprawled across his lap “Naughty girls get spanked.”  
“DON’T YOU EVEN DARE YOU STUPID PERVERTED PLAYBOY!!!!” Anne roared as she thrashed about in his grip.  
Sephiroth chuckled but it was very brief when Anne grabbed her wet hair and slapped it across his face. He let go of Anne who made a run for it once she was free. Sephiroth smirked and chased after her, tackling her when they were on the grass. Anne yelped and squealed as Sephiroth tickled her mercilessly and they rolled around on the grass until Anne was sprawled on top of Sephiroth. Sephiroth smiled and pulled Anne down for another kiss and lying back lazily.  
“What are you supposed to have Period Seven?” he asked and Anne sighed.  
“Dancing. I’ll get paired up with Genesis again,” she pouted.  
Sephiroth smirked and winked.  
“Want to go round my place?” he asked and Anne slapped him on the chest.  
“Please, Sephiroth, you’re smothering me,” she growled and Sephiroth laughed “Hey! I’m being serious!”  
She pouted and sat up, arms crossed over her chest.  
“Why can’t you be romantic like you were with Crystal?” she whined and Sephiroth sat up at her request.  
“You like romantic guys?” he said with a raised eyebrow.  
Anne blushed and looked away.  
“Uh…yeah, sort of…”  
Sephiroth smirked.  
“Well why didn’t you say so before? I could have taken on a different approach.”  
Anne gaped at him, mouth opening and closing before she slapped him.  
“Bastard!” she shouted and Sephiroth rubbed his cheek with a frown “You enjoyed sexually harassing me! And you didn’t even ask about my preferences!”  
“Will you stop abusing me?” he asked politely “I’m your boyfriend now…”  
Anne pressed her hand over his mouth.  
“Don’t say things like that in public!” she hissed.  
“But I’m a public man,” Sephiroth smirked as he pulled her hand away.  
“But…but…”  
Anne sniffed and turned away.  
“Everyone will really think I’m a slut…” she whined and Sephiroth sat up straight.  
“Who called you that?” he asked and Anne turned away.  
“For some reason, Daisy stuck a note about me being a slut in my locker and someone else spray painted the word onto it…”  
Sephiroth gripped the grass then picked up Anne.  
“Let’s go back before we get into trouble,” he decided and began walking back to the school “I’m going to tell Father about this.”  
“N-No! I…”  
Anne hissed in pain when she opened up her punching hand and Sephiroth looked down to see that it was rather bruised. Cooing, he pressed a kiss onto it and nuzzled her neck.  
“Come on, we need to tell someone,” he said and Anne fell silent, hunching her shoulders.  
Anne lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Oh boy, now she’s being Sephiroth’s girlfriend, huh? What good could possibly come out of that?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An introduction to the bullies

Anne rubbed her hands up and down her biceps wearily as she sat outside Vincent’s office, listening to Sephiroth talking to him about what was going on. She heard the way Vincent seemed wary about Sephiroth jumping to conclusions and Sephiroth seemed tired of explaining Daisy’s motive to wind Anne up. Anne winced when Sephiroth accidentally, or perhaps not accidentally, mentioned the fact that they were now going out. Vincent’s voice seemed to rise as he began barking at Sephiroth to why he shouldn’t be going out with her and Anne sighed tiredly, pulling her legs up to hook her arms around them and stare into space absent-mindedly.  
“Why, if it isn’t the Queen of Sluts herself.”  
Anne bristled when she heard Daisy and slowly looked down the corridor to see her and a small gang of girls sneering at her in a similar fashion. Anne never liked these girls. They were too popular and too arrogant for her to be around with.  
Sierra, the most flexible Anne had ever seen. She had a very curved figure and a very nice natural tan. She often had her chocolate brown hair up in a ponytail and she boasted about her looks frequently. Anne started disliking her since she saw her bullying poor Luna on her looks. Luna had very low self-esteem at the time and Anne often saw her crying at lunchtime. It was when Luna began wearing make-up like Sierra that Anne voiced her concerns to her twin brother, Luka, who agreed something was wrong. After talking to Luna, Anne helped her find friends to be around with who wouldn’t judge her sense of fashion or her looks. Sierra seemed a bit annoyed at both Anne and Luka for taking away her ‘plaything’ which made Anne really worry about what else Sierra had done to bully her. She and Luka immediately fixed Luna up with a boyfriend to keep a watch over her and so far, Luna’s been very happy with the match up.  
Lily, the most deluded girl Anne had the unfortunate experience of meeting. Anne never liked the way Lily wore her skirt so high, that Anne actually saw her pink panties once. Anne saw that she often fussed about with her make-up in the mirrors of the gym that they used for trampolining. And she wore jewellery, which really irritated Anne because the sporting classes would always get interrupted because their teachers would tell her time and again to take her jewellery off unless she wanted to be in hospital. Anne then began to despise her when she found out that she was cyber bullying poor Hikari after school and posting pictures of her naked online. Lily was suspended when the teachers found out and Anne found out that her parents were rich enough to keep her in the school instead of flapping about to find another one to put her in. Anne and Jade eventually found someone to keep an eye over Hikari. She often got into arguments with him though and Anne highly doubts that the relationship will last long.  
Britney, the most flirtatious and irritating girl Anne had ever met. Her face was always, always caked in make-up. She often spent her time on her phone whenever she wasn’t firing an arrow in the archery range or racing anyone in athletics. Whenever Anne asked to time her in sprinting, she would give her a dirty look. Anne honestly couldn’t see why she was so hostile to her and not the other girls but eventually gave in and began disliking her. She began disliking the blonde even more when poor Hayley was the victim of rumours that had been started by her. It turned out that the little blunette had been going out with someone outside of the school and Britney had been trying to grab that boy’s attention for a long time. So out of spite, Britney had rumours going on that Hayley would spread her legs for anyone because she was a cheap porn star. Some actually believed the rumours and there was an incident when all the immature boys in Hayley’s form began throwing Gil at her, jeering and shouting at her for her ‘services’. Anne eventually cleared the whole thing up with Hayley’s brother, Joel, by following Hayley into her form room the next day and kicking all of them in the nuts. Dr Hollander gave them a detention when he discovered them but it was worth it. Hayley was allowed to take an early vacation from school to escape from the bullying and have some alone time with her family.  
Isabella, Seito’s ex-girlfriend before he realised that he was gay. Anne always saw her in her form class putting make-up on herself, brushing her bright ginger curls and giving glares to Damon whenever she had the chance. She was pretty miffed when Seito dumped her for Damon and had been planning to steal him back for a while now. That’s when she began hanging out with the popular girls and began to wear shorts skirts and too much make-up. She was such a drama queen too, Anne often wondered why she never continued Drama. She would always make a scene if her lipstick was smudged or if she broke a nail, it gave Anne a headache. It gave Mr Valentine a headache too, considering he had to deal with her twice every day at registration. Anne understood how much of a shock Isabella must have gone through since Seito dumped her for a boy. But it didn’t excuse her behaviour afterwards. Anne personally tried to console her but got waved off immediately.  
Dakota, Damon’s stalker. Dakota has had a crush on poor Damon for a long time now. Damon was bisexual so he was interested in girls but because he had Seito, he has been committed to that relationship and never had any interest in her. Dakota did confront him with his feelings and he did let her down nicely, confirming that he would rather stay committed to Seito instead of going behind his back. Of course Dakota was more than a little upset about this and denied Damon’s proposal to stay being friends. It was either her or Seito but Seito quickly confirmed that Damon was always going to choose him and never her. Bit of a bad mistake, considering Dakota has a reputation for overreacting slightly whenever she didn’t get her way. Seito had to endure her wails for about a week until she finally calmed down. Anne honestly couldn’t understand why she and Damon can’t just be friends. Damon was a very friendly guy and he didn’t ever intend to hurt anyone’s feelings at all.  
And finally, the ringleader, Daisy, the second best jockey in their horse-riding class. Daisy had always looked up to Sky and always wanted to be as good as him. She’s a bit of a gossip girl since she got an award in journalism when she was a reporter for the school newspaper. She was one of Asa’s top customers which spread a bit of rumours through the school but Asa quickly cleared it up to establish that Daisy only paid him in money, nothing else. Anne was aware that Daisy was upset because Sky accepted the proposal of going on a date with her, Anne just needed to tell her that it didn’t go that well and hopefully the whole ‘slut’ thing should be cleared up.  
Anne nodded to herself and stood up to face the girls.  
“Good afternoon, Daisy,” she said and paled slightly when she realised that all the girls were taller than her “Uh…”  
She swallowed when she saw Sierra crack her knuckles and hunched her shoulders.  
“I don’t like Sky that way anymore so you can leave me alone!” she blurted out and Daisy just smirked.  
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed “I’m not here about Sky.”  
“We’re here about the other boys that you’ve slept with,” Britney smirked and Anne swallowed softly.  
“I haven’t slept with anyone,” she said calmly.  
“Yeah? What about Vincent?” Dakota sneered.  
“Sleepover. It was just a friend’s sleepover.”  
“But you could have just gone home like you normally do,” Isabella raised an eyebrow.  
“Sephiroth knows where I live, I didn’t want to go home to face any more bullying…”  
“Is something the matter, ladies?”  
The group seemed to shrink back as the door opened and Sephiroth and Vincent Valentine came out. Sephiroth went behind Anne, placing his hands on her shoulders protectively. Daisy noticed the gesture and gave a sweet smile.  
“Is it true that you two are going out?” she asked.  
Vincent and Anne said no while Sephiroth said yes at the same time, making the girls giggle. Anne and Vincent directed their red eyes to Sephiroth to give him a glare while Sephiroth just smirked.  
“We’ve started going out during lunchtime, I believe,” Sephiroth began playing with Anne’s hair absent-mindedly “Do tell all the boys that so they can keep away from her.”  
“Yes,” Vincent suddenly cut in “tell all of them so no-one will think that she’s the ‘Queen of Sluts’ may I quote?”  
Daisy swallowed as Sierra nodded stiffly.  
“Certainly,” she said “we shall go now to enjoy our free period.”  
The girls went off around the corner and Sephiroth smirked at his father.  
“You’re quick to change your mind,” he commented, rubbing Anne’s shoulder idly.  
“If it will ward off any rumours surrounding someone from my form then I suppose I should let you two have a relationship,” Vincent muttered and Sephiroth chuckled.  
“You just adore Anne as much as I do,” he smirked and picked up Anne “Time to get you changed into your dance clothes.”  
“H-Hey wait!” Anne squealed and wriggled around “You’re not allowed in the girl’s changing room!”  
“Everyone’s in lessons, no-one will see me,” Sephiroth gave a devious smirk and Anne paled.  
Is this relationship really a good idea?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne's first official day with Sephiroth as her boyfriend

The next day, Anne decided to try and forget everything and pretend to go through school normally. No Sephiroth, no bullying, no nothing. But as soon as she set foot in the school grounds, she realised that it was impossible. Immediately she was flanked by both Sephiroth and Seito, which made her jump slightly.  
“Uh…”  
“Hello, my little kitten,” Sephiroth purred as he picked her up and swung her onto his back “Let’s spend a little time together before registration.”  
Seito watched as they walked off and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Anne as she questioned Sephiroth to why he was giving her a piggy-back ride. He never found himself enchanted to this girl like everyone else. It was probably because he was very much gay but Seito just couldn’t see, neither through personality nor appearance, why others would dote on her and practically baby feed her, as if she couldn’t do anything by herself. Flint and Dune weren’t attracted to her either but they were definitely gay too, Flint having a boyfriend outside of school. Seito cupped his chin thoughtfully.  
“Perhaps Damon would know,” he decided “He’s bi anyway…”  
His eyes widened as he thought of the fact that Damon might be attracted to her too and clenched his fist.  
“Oh, it’s on girl,” he growled as Anne obliviously leaned on Sephiroth’s head as she was carried around the corner.  
******************************  
Period 1: Archery for Anne…  
*****************************  
“Here you go, honey,” Gabriel grinned with a suggestive wink as he dropped a bow into Anne’s waiting hands “Don’t go hurting yourself now.”  
Anne scowled at him as Bianca giggled and led her to the firing range.  
“Hey, he flirts with everyone,” Bianca reassured her.  
“Even with girls that are taken?” Anne asked as she readied her arrow and aimed it at the target.  
“Wait, you’ve got a boyfriend?”  
Anne abruptly let go, the arrow hitting her first ever bull’s-eye. She blushed as Bianca leaned in with a curious expression.  
“Anne?” she said waving a hand in Anne’s face “What’s the matter?”  
“You heard nothing…” Anne whispered.  
“Oh my Shiva, you finally got Sky to ask you out!” Jade shouted as she ran up to Anne as if called by a siren.  
“No, no, no, I’m not going out with Sky!” Anne shouted in her defence, frantically waving a hand to say no.  
“No, she’s gone and slept with Sephiroth.”  
Anne bristled as Britney walked over with a hand on her hip.  
“She’s Sephiroth’s little toy now,” she sneered and Anne cringed at her tone.  
“Stick your big fat ugly nose somewhere else, Brit,” Hayley strode up to her “Anne would never mindlessly sleep with someone who’s been bullying her for over a week!”  
Britney towered over the poor blunette and Anne realised how tall Britney was compared to poor little Hayley. The blonde scoffed and smirked at her.  
“Well if the little blue slut hasn’t come to save the newest recruit.”  
“Britney!”  
Joel and Robin walked up to her and Joel folded his arms.  
“Leave my sister alone.”  
“And if I don’t…?” Britney tossed her curls confidently with a wide smirk.  
“Yesterday afternoon during Period Eight,” Robin said and pulled his phone out.  
He held it out and Britney’s eyes widened in terror when she saw what was on display. She opened then closed her mouth before stalking off in a huff. The girls stared at the boys with enquiring looks and Robin quickly put his phone away.  
“Blackmail,” he smirked “Best weapon I have.”  
Anne shivered and grimaced.  
“I suppose it made her go away,” she muttered and turned around, drawing another arrow onto her bow.  
She held it steady and began shaking until Othello came up behind her and steadied her hold.  
“Now release.”  
Anne let the arrow go sailing across the range and it hit just above the centre, making her grimace.  
“Damn,” she muttered and Othello chuckled, ruffling her hair.  
“You can’t always get a bull’s-eye,” he smiled and Anne huffed.  
“So what’s this about Sephiroth?” Rafael asked as he drew his arrow and began aiming next to Anne.  
Anne sighed as she pulled out another arrow.  
“I suppose I can’t avoid it any longer,” she grumbled “Sephiroth’s my boyfriend now.”  
Rafael’s arrow completely missed its target completely and Rafael started at her with wide eyes.  
“I was under the impression that you were never going to go out with Sephiroth,” Tristan said as he came up from behind.  
“What can I say?” Anne shrugged “He caught me in my moment of weakness and convinced his dad that it’ll be beneficial for me to go out with him.”  
She groaned as her arrow landed on the outer circle.  
“Damn, why did I continue this?!”  
*****************************  
Period 2: Athletics for Anne…  
******************************  
Anne gasped as her discus swerved and nearly collided into Valkyrie.  
“Sorry!” she shouted.  
Sighing heavily when Valkyrie shouted that she was OK, she walked off and sat down on the small hillside by the long jump sandpit. She smiled a little and clapped as Griffin took off and landed in the sandpit.  
“Well done,” she smiled and Griffin gave her a flirtatious wink.  
“Always doing it for the birds,” he purred and Anne scoffed with a blush, waving him off dismissively.  
Griffin paused as he looked behind her and raised an eyebrow before jogging off to the high jump. Poor Anne didn’t suspect Sephiroth suddenly pouncing on her from behind as she thought what could have made Griffin run off.  
“Hello my little kitten,” he purred loudly and nibbled her ear.  
“Seph!” Anne hissed as she pushed his face away “People are staring!”  
“Don’t care,” Sephiroth mumbled as he brought an arm around her waist “Besides, I’m all warmed up and I’ll do the same to you.”  
“I don’t think that’s a good idea!” Anne raised her voice as she tried to break out of Sephiroth’s grip.  
She squeaked as Sephiroth grabbed her thigh and helped her leg point to the sky, helping her stretch her muscles out. She blushed brightly and glared when Sephiroth laughed.  
“My, if I knew you were this flexible I would have asked you out much earlier,” he smirked and Anne glowered at him.  
“My legs can’t normally do this,” she snarled.  
Sephiroth’s expression softened somewhat as he gently lowered her leg down.  
“Anne, do you really have to be so hostile?” he asked with a frown.  
“Do you really have to be so perverted?!”  
“I was helping you stretch your muscles, forgive me if it looked like I was going to engage in sexual intercourse with you.”  
Anne’s eyes filled with tears and she suddenly burst out crying. She covered her face and turned away from him.  
“Why do you have to be so damn insensitive?!” she yelled, bringing everyone’s attention towards her “I hate you! I HATE YOU!!!!”  
She stood up and ran over to the changing rooms, intending to lock herself up in her changing locker for a very long time.  
***************************************  
Period 3: Creative Writing for Anne…  
*************************************  
Anne’s eyes were still a bit red from crying as she sat at the back and began drafting a small story to try and get her mind off Sephiroth. Zero and Loz sat on either side of her, Loz offering her a tissue.  
“Here, just take a moment to calm down,” Zero said as he patted Anne’s shoulder comfortingly.  
Anne sniffed as she accepted Loz’s tissue and began dabbing her eyes. As Loz gave an excuse for her mood, Anne paused as she noticed that all the boys in the room were staring at her. She froze abruptly and felt her whole body freeze up. Why were all the boys staring at her? Why was she sandwiched in between Loz and Zero? Why were all the boys giving her attention just because she was a bit upset? Her whole body shook when she thought of an answer. What if everyone was right? What if she was absent-mindedly being really attractive and it was true that at least 90% of the male population in the school wanted to be hers… Anne suddenly stood up shakily.  
“I…I…I need to get some water,” she excused herself as she stumbled out of the room.  
Christopher was the first one to spot the signs of a mental breakdown and he stood.  
“I can…”  
“No!” Anne sharply barked and swayed as she reached the door “I…I can go by myself, I don’t need an escort…”  
Melody was the first girl to stand up to offer help to her but by then Anne was gone and stumbling down the corridor. She reached the staircase and gripped the rail, placing a hand on her cheek and sighed as she felt that she was so hot, she might as well be suffering from a fever. She began sobbing again and covering her face as she began to feel really self-conscious. She never was conscious with the way she dressed. Perhaps that’s why the guys keep on giving her attention. Looking down at her arms she grimaced. Maybe she exposed too much skin? She closed her eyes and began thinking about the different guys that have given her attention. She discounted all the gay guys who were Seito, Dune and Flint.   
Asa was very friendly towards her but now that Anne thought about it, he always had an arm around her shoulders. Not that Anne minded but that action would bring up rumours about the two of them. But why would Asa like her? They hardly had anything in common apart from the fact that they both took Japanese, Athletics and Drama.   
Then there was Benjamin. He was a very sweet guy and he sometimes brought her food from his Cooking classes. He also wanted help from her in Japanese homework when there were plenty of other brighter students that could help him better. But why would he do that? Genesis was the person he normally went to for help.   
Erik was a nice shy boy and he often hung around her at lunch time. They didn’t take any classes together but they shared Free Periods with each other. They often read together in the library when they were younger but now that Anne thought about it, Erik always had that cute little blush on his face when they were together.  
Gabriel flirted with everyone but Anne was under the impression that he only flirted with the popular and pretty girls. Anne thought back and her eyes widened when she realised that he had been flirting with her too during Archery today. But why would he flirt with her? She wasn’t that pretty or popular. The same went for Griffin but Anne thought he only went for Zelda because she had caught Griffin writing love poems about her. Why would he hit on her too?  
Luxiere was such a gentleman to the ladies. Anne swooned slightly when she remembered how wonderful he sung and how often he took up solos. She was delighted when they spent time together to rehearse different songs that their teacher had assigned them to do for homework. And in Drama they were frequent partners too and in groups to perform in front of the teacher and the rest of the class. Anne giggled when she remembered the time that they performed the play the King and I. They both had minor parts together in that play.  
Luka was so handsome and so beautiful and Anne could only dream in having a Prince Charming like him. But now that Anne thought about it, Luka spent a lot of time in Drama rehearsing scenes with her and being in performances with her. And in Ice-Skating they were frequent partners. And that smile he always gave her, that smile that melted everyone’s hearts… Why would he do that? Why would he give her that beautiful smile every day? Was that a sign that he was interested in her heart?  
And Vincent! Vincent was so kind to her the other day, he even let her stay at his home for the night! Anne sighed dreamily as she closed her eyes and pictured his face. He was so cold and so indifferent and Anne sort of liked that in a guy. He was so cool and he was so handsome but Anne remembered that Dune really liked him. Her smile faltered and she sighed wistfully.  
“Anne?”  
With her train of thought broken, Anne gasped as she turned on her heel and her pupils dilated when she saw Sephiroth standing behind her.  
“No,” she whispered and Sephiroth saw by the way she swayed on the spot unsteadily, by her sudden self-consciousness and the way she stared at him like an injured animal, she wasn’t mentally stable.  
“Anne, dear,” he tried to console her.  
“Don’t call me any pet names!” Anne’s voice echoed in the hall “I don’t want to hear anything from you! I’m warning you, I will make sure you’ll never have kids if you come one step nearer!”  
Sephiroth laughed softly at how cute she was and that made her explode.  
“Why doesn’t anyone take me seriously?!” she suddenly yelled at the top of her voice, halting Sephiroth’s laughter “Why can’t anyone understand me?”  
“Anne, I didn’t mean to offend you,” Sephiroth tried to calm her down and stepped forward.  
“No, don’t-!”  
Sephiroth’s eyes widened and he lunged forward to try to grab Anne. Too late. Anne’s mind went blank as she toppled over backwards and fell over. Sephiroth landed on the floor and watched as Anne tumbled down the stairs until she reached the bottom, unconscious.  
“Anne!” he shouted, picking himself up and sliding down the banister to reach her quickly and check her pulse.  
He felt a faint throb and sighed in relief, scooping her up and running downstairs to reach the medical ward. She had to be alright, right?


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne gets visitors whilst she's unconcious

“Get out of my way!”  
Everyone in the corridor hurriedly stepped to the side as Tifa shot through, Cloud jogging behind her. Aerith blinked as her best friend ran past and began following her to the medical ward.  
“What’s going on, Cloud?” she asked as Cloud passed her.  
“Well she got a message before we could go out to do Cross Country,” Cloud explained as Tifa burst into the medical ward “She didn’t really tell me any details.”  
They entered the medical ward and Cloud immediately engaged Sephiroth in a glowering contest. Sephiroth broke away first to stare at the bed in front of him. Cloud blinked as he saw Tifa sitting down next to the bed and stepped to the side so he could see the occupant.  
“Oh,” he said as Aerith stepped to the side to see the occupant “That explains a few things.”  
Anne lay in the bed, unconscious and showing no signs of waking up soon. Cloud gave an accusing look to Sephiroth who held his hands up.  
“I tried to stop her from falling down the stairs but I was too late,” he said as Aerith gave him an accusing look too “Hey, the nurse said that she’s going to be alright, but if she doesn’t wake up by the end of the day they might need to transfer her to the hospital.”  
“Why were you near her when she clearly told you that she didn’t want to be around you?” Tifa growled as she glared at him, clasping Anne’s hand tightly in hers.  
“I’m her boyfriend, I care for her health,” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and Cloud spluttered.  
“That’s crazy! She would never go out with someone like you!” he exclaimed and Sephiroth gave a proud smirk.  
“Well she is now,” he said smugly “Perhaps when she wakes up, she can tell you.”  
“Pah! She’ll dump you when she regains her senses!” Tifa snarled at him.  
“Really?” Sephiroth challenged “Or will you pressure her into it?”  
“Tifa,” Aerith cautioned as Tifa raised a fist to punch Sephiroth.  
Tifa quivered and lowered her fist. She then pointed to the door.  
“Get out, the last thing she needs when she wakes up is you,” she growled.  
“I was here first and I will remain here until she gets better,” Sephiroth replied calmly much to Tifa’s annoyance.  
“Well I’m her sister so I have more priority than you!” Tifa declared as she sat down by Anne’s bed, folding her arms stubbornly.  
“Hey, I heard Anne’s taken quite the nasty fall,” Asa said as he poked his head into the medical wing.  
He blinked when everyone, apart from Aerith, directed a glare to him and he shrugged.  
“Hey, it’s the latest gossip and I’m here to see if she’s alright,” he said.  
“She’s fine now leave,” Sephiroth said with an intimidating glare “I know how you feel about her.”  
“You really do get jealous easily,” Asa remarked, somehow unaffected by Sephiroth’s negative energy “How I felt about her, Seph. Felt. It’s the past now. To prove it, I can give you a picture of my girlfriend after our date tonight.”  
“Not interested,” Sephiroth said as he waved Asa off.  
Aerith frowned as Sephiroth sat opposite Tifa, placing Anne’s tiny hand in his.  
“Sephiroth, what exactly happened?” she asked.  
“Anne just missed a step by the staircase and fell,” Sephiroth replied “She’s hit her head rather harshly but the nurse said it wasn’t anything too serious.”  
“Hey, I heard Anne is here…” Benjamin poked his head into the medical wing and froze when everyone, apart from Aerith, glared at him.  
“Not you too?” Cloud raised an eyebrow.  
“Well, I just wanted to give these to her for when she wakes up,” Benjamin held up a small bag.  
Sephiroth strode over and snatched the bag to look in it. He raised an eyebrow.  
“Since when could you bake muffins?” he asked.  
“We just happened to be making baked goods in Cooking,” Benjamin replied.  
Sephiroth remained silent before placing the bag on the bedside table and waving Benjamin off.  
“Really, Sephiroth, you don’t have to be so rude to wave everyone away,” Aerith said with her hands on her hips.  
“Any more people around Anne and she may suffocate,” Sephiroth replied simply.  
“Hey, I heard…” Cecil froze when he saw Sephiroth’s glare and swallowed “Is this a bad time?”  
“What do you want?” Sephiroth asked warily.  
Cecil held up a small painting of one of the kittens he had at home.  
“From Megumi and I,” he explained as Cloud took the painting and set it down next to the bag of muffins.  
“Sorry but too many people around Anne may be a bit stressing for her if she wakes,” Cloud explained calmly.  
“Oh, I see,” Cecil nodded as he left.  
“See, why can’t you be as polite as Cloud?” Aerith asked as she gestured to Cloud.  
“Because I am myself and I cannot be like someone else,” Sephiroth said in a mocking tone which made Aerith give him a glare.  
“You…”  
“I heard what…” Christopher blinked when Cloud raised an eyebrow as he stepped into the medical wing “Woah, no-one told me it would be that serious.”  
“What do you want, Chris?” Tifa asked.  
“Oh, I was going to give Anne the notes from our Creative Writing class,” Christopher said as he held up his notebook “Is she alright?”  
“Just a bump on the head,” Aerith replied while Sephiroth adjusted the bandages on Anne’s head.  
“Aw, does she need a kiss better?”  
“No.”  
Sephiroth’s answer was firm, Christopher’s notebook was on the table with the muffins and painting and Christopher was gone.  
“How did you get friends again?” Tifa asked with a raised eyebrow.  
“The same way that you got them, spent some time with other people, got to know them and became friends,” Sephiroth smirked at Tifa’s glare.  
“Excuse me…”  
“What?!” Sephiroth snapped harshly at the newcomers.  
Amber hid behind Zero once she saw the viciousness in Sephiroth’s glare. Zero blinked as he held a bunch of flowers.  
“We wanted to give these to Anne,” he said and Amber held out a Get Well Soon card to Sephiroth.  
Cloud took the flowers and card to place next to the other presents as the twins carefully backed out of the room.  
“OK, that was just plain mean!” Aerith exclaimed “Amber and Zero are lovely friends of Anne’s!”  
“It was out of habit,” Sephiroth muttered.  
“And Zero isn’t even attracted to Anne, he’s got a slight incest crush on Amber,” Asa whispered as he poked his head into the medical wing.  
“OUT!”  
Asa left and Cloud checked that he was in fact gone before raising an eyebrow.  
“Seriously?” he commented.  
“I hope that doesn’t spread,” Tifa grimaced.  
“Or get found out by Amber,” Aerith piped in.  
“Nngh…”  
All four of them perked up when Anne stirred and slowly opened her eyes.  
“Anne, are you feeling any better?” Tifa asked as she leaned in.  
Anne looked at Tifa, then at Aerith, then to Cloud and finally at Sephiroth. Sephiroth smiled warmly and stroked her hand softly.  
“How’s your head?” he asked.  
Anne just stared at him questioningly.  
“Who are you?”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genesis comes to the rescue...sort of...

Tifa, Aerith, Cloud and Sephiroth stood in a small circle as the nurse checked up on Anne, confused at Anne’s sudden case of amnesia.  
“How badly did she fell?” Cloud asked.  
“It was a bit too quick for me to register,” Sephiroth replied “I supposed it was possible for her to bump her head on the way down.”  
“Well,” the nurse sighed as she walked up to them “It turns out that she doesn’t have amnesia.”  
“Then what is it?” Tifa asked rather shrilly “She can’t remember me, her sister!!”  
“Calm down, it looks like she’s got a bit of mistaken identity.”  
“Mistaken identity?” Aerith frowned “You mean, she thinks she’s someone else?”  
The nurse nodded.  
“It might take a while to convince her real identity,” she said “I’m not entirely sure how she managed to forget her identity, there’s no sign that the fall might have caused it.”  
“It should have, what else could have caused it?” Sephiroth snapped.  
“There have been cases where people have convinced their brain to forget something entirely, perhaps convince themselves to be a different person,” the nurse explained “I have heard of a case when someone had a case of trauma and he went to sleep, waking up as someone else that he created himself. He never recovered.”  
Awkward silence filled the hospital wing and Tifa swung a punch at Sephiroth. Sephiroth caught it and Cloud restrained his girlfriend away from him.  
“This is your fault!” she snapped and struggled against Cloud “If you had left her alone she wouldn’t be like this!”  
“Tifa, calm down,” Cloud grunted as Tifa thrashed about.  
“What’s going on here?” Genesis entered the ward with Angeal.  
“Anne thinks that she’s someone else,” Aerith sighed as the three others kept on bickering “She can’t remember anyone or anything here.”  
“Do you know who she thinks she is?” Angeal asked.  
Aerith shook her head and Genesis walked up to Anne while Angeal broke the others up and began giving them a lecture.  
“Hello, miss,” he said and sat down “I believe we haven’t met. My name is Genesis.”  
Anne stared at him blankly.  
“Um, hi,” she blinked “Do you know where I am?”  
“Why, you’re in a hospital wing in a school,” Genesis smiled “Just a second.”  
He stood and pushed the others out of the hospital wing.  
“And don’t come in until I say so, she might get scared off if you cause too much noise or stare too much.”  
Cloud and Sephiroth blinked as he shut the door quietly.  
“Since when was he interested in Anne?” Cloud asked, a bit confused.  
“Oh you know, enemies attract,” Tifa hummed innocently.  
“What?!”  
Angeal restrained Sephiroth from barging in to drag Genesis away.  
“Hey, hey, he might be able to irritate her enough to bring her true identity back,” Aerith giggled.  
****************************************************************************************************  
“Sorry about that, I couldn’t hear myself think with them blabbering on and on,” Genesis smiled at Anne while sitting down by her bed “Now, may I know your name?”  
“Florence,” Anne murmured as she shuffled away from him “What do you mean hospital in a school?”  
“Hospital wing, this school is a private school so it can afford to have a small hospital wing.”  
“Oh…”  
Anne looked around curiously and Genesis tried to wrack his brains for a Florence character. Spotting her book bag, he discretely searched it for her Creative Writing book. He placed Benjamin’s muffins on her lap.  
“Eat, one of your friends baked them especially for you.”  
“My friend?” Anne echoed.  
Genesis prayed that this Florence character had some friends. He scanned the pages of her latest short story which conveniently and predictably had someone called Florence in it.  
“Florence Fox?”  
Anne looked up at the name.  
“Yes, my full name is Florence Fox,” she nodded.  
“And you have three sisters and a brother?” Genesis continued reading, turning the page and conveniently finding a profile on Florence “Green hair and magenta eyes?”  
“Why are you talking about my physical appearance, you can see me, right?”  
Genesis silently fumed when he heard a little bit of Anne come out.  
“You’ve changed,” he smiled charmingly.  
When Anne stared ahead a bit confused, Genesis continued reading Florence’s profile.  
“How did I get here anyway?” she asked.  
“Oh, you fell down the stairs.”  
“Huh.”  
“You’re pregnant?!” Genesis’s eyes bulged when he saw the extra notes at the bottom.  
“I am?!” Anne exclaimed.  
“You’re only sixteen! Why are you pregnant at such a young age?!”  
Genesis took a moment to see how old Florence was.  
“Yes, you’re sixteen!”  
“But I’m a virgin!”  
“Oh, wait, never mind,” Genesis saw a question mark beside the pregnant word, indicating that it was a future plan “Sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else.”  
“I’m insulted,” Anne folded her arms grumpily.  
“I apologize,” Genesis murmured under his breath and continued reading.  
“When can I get home? My little brother must be worried about me…”  
Genesis looked up and bit his lip as he tried to figure out how to break it to Anne that she wasn’t Florence Fox. He decided to use the first idea that popped in his head.  
“Well, you fell down the stairs and you’re currently in a coma,” he came up with “This is a dream where you can’t wake up until your body has fully healed from the damage.”  
“Huh?!” Anne pulled a rather bewildered face.  
“Yes, in this dream you aren’t Florence Fox, people here call you Anne Lockhart,” Genesis continued weaving a story in the hopes that she might realise that she wasn’t Florence “You have an older sister…”  
“Aw…” Anne pulled a face and Genesis quickly flicked through the short story to discover that Florence had a nasty older sister.  
“Her name is Tifa and she loves you very much. She is nothing like Jenna.”  
Genesis frowned while staring at Florence’s profile. Jenna? Really? Jenna is more of a name for a younger sister…  
“Do I have a little brother?” Anne bounced excitedly.  
“No, it’s just you, your elder sister and your parents at home,” Genesis replied and raised an eyebrow when Anne sighed in disappointment, slouching grumpily.  
Genesis’s gaze wandered to the door that led outside where the others were. How was he supposed to tell Anne that she had a boyfriend that was the cause of her falling down the stairs? A wicked idea suddenly struck him and he smirked.  
“You have a boyfriend,” he said and Anne looked at him, blinking in confusion.  
“Really?” she said “Me? I have a boyfriend?”  
“Yes.”  
Genesis placed her book back into her bag and placed a hand on her own.  
“I am your boyfriend.”  
There was a loud exclamation outside.  
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sephiroth's attempts to help Anne's memory. Mild swearing near the end

Vincent didn’t like it when his son was arrogant. He didn’t like it when he was devious. He certainly didn’t like it when he brought a girl home from school or from going out with friends. But the mood that Vincent hated the most was when his son was angry. The loud thuds of the baseball being hit against the bedroom wall was getting increasingly irritating, Vincent could even hear him with his music turned on through his earphones. He couldn’t even focus on marking the theory papers that lay before him, especially with Reno’s handwriting. The digital clock on his desk said that it was nearly half past eleven at night and Lucrecia kept on getting woken up by their son next door.  
“Vincent, go talk to him please,” she begged with a loud yawn.  
“If he didn’t listen to you, why would he listen to me?” Vincent asked irritably.  
“You’re his father, of course he’ll listen to you.”  
“You’re his mother, he loves you more than he loves me.”  
“Anne’s your pupil.”  
“Don’t you start dragging my pupils into this, Lucrecia.”  
“Vincent, dear, you’ve been through being betrayed by your best friend, go talk to him.”  
“I don’t think it’s just about Genesis, who was your star pupil may I add.”  
“Don’t you start dragging my pupils into this, Vincent.”  
Vincent would have smirked if the baseball hitting against the wall sound was non-existent. With a defeated sigh, Vincent got up, stretched his arms and stormed out of the bedroom sulkily.  
“Will you stop that?” he asked wearily as opened Sephiroth’s bedroom door and stood in the doorway.  
Sephiroth caught the baseball, clenching it tightly in his fist and gave him a subtle glare. Vincent raised an eyebrow at him and Sephiroth threw the baseball harder into the wall, making a dent.  
“Do that anymore and the asbestos will pollute your room, giving you lung cancer,” Vincent dug his fingernails into his arms to avoid getting angry.  
“Tch, perhaps I’ll lock Genesis up in here when it does,” Sephiroth scoffed and threw the baseball harder.  
“Your mother is trying to sleep, you know what happens if she doesn’t get enough sleep.”  
“Whatever.”  
“And I’m trying to mark my theory papers, you know what happens if I don’t get them marked on time.”  
Sephiroth caught the baseball, pausing for a few seconds.  
“I’m trying to relieve some stress, you know what happens if the stress builds up in me,” he taunted.  
“Well exert it in a different manner,” Vincent sighed “You’ve been like this since you left your unfinished dinner.”  
“Not that long,” Sephiroth shrugged and continued throwing the baseball at the wall.  
“It’s half past eleven, you should get some sleep,” Vincent tried playing the time card.  
“I’m not thirteen anymore, dad,” Sephiroth sneered.  
“Then stop acting like you’re thirteen or I’ll treat you like you are!” Vincent barked.  
“You would do the same if Professor Hojo took advantage of mother!” Sephiroth began raising his voice.  
“No, I would not! I would confront him personally and try to resolve the situation!”  
“Oh, do you think I didn’t think of that?!”  
*********************  
Eleven hours ago…  
***************************  
Angeal had let go of Sephiroth in surprise after Genesis announced that he was Anne’s boyfriend. Sephiroth stormed into the hospital wing, outraged. How dare Genesis say such a thing! Anne as Genesis’s girlfriend? Please! Genesis hates Anne! And Anne hates Genesis! Anne jumped with a surprised scream as Sephiroth grabbed Genesis by the collar and pulled him up to a standing position.  
“Just what are you trying to pull saying things like that?!” he roared as Genesis stared at him coolly.  
“Ah, Sephiroth,” Genesis smirked as Tifa and Cloud rushed in to try and pull Sephiroth away “Just in the nick of time. Anne, or should I say, Florence?”  
“Please, just call me Florence,” Anne squeaked as she stared at Sephiroth fearfully.  
“Florence it is then,” Genesis dusted himself down as Cloud managed to make Sephiroth let go of him “This is your ex.”  
Sephiroth began spouting all words foul and malicious at Genesis while the nurse scolded them, Tifa apologising as they managed to get him out of the hospital wing. Anne watched with a horrified expression.  
“As you can see, he didn’t take the break-up too well, so he’s convinced that you’re still going out with him, are you alright?”  
Anne shakily nodded, watching Angeal wrestle Sephiroth down the corridor.  
*********************  
Back to present…  
************************  
“Then talk to her in a nice calm environment,” Vincent raised an eyebrow.  
“Oh, bravo, dad,” Sephiroth said sarcastically while clapping his hands “Another brilliant idea that I never thought about.”  
*****************  
Nine hours ago…  
**************************  
Ah-ha! Sephiroth held his breath as he saw Anne watching Genesis go through some magic training with Seth and Othello. He approached her carefully, placing a hand on the back of the bench that Anne was sitting on. He cleared his throat.  
“So,” he muttered and Anne snapped her head round with an alarmed look.  
“What do you want?!” she demanded, jumping to her feet.  
“Hey, I’m just wanting to have a nice, calm chat with you,” Sephiroth soothed her and sighed when she just tensed up more “Relax, I was angry at Genesis, not you. I apologize if I scared you.”  
Seeing that she wasn’t going to be relaxing any time soon, Sephiroth shrugged and sat on the bench.  
“Right, let’s try and clean this mess up,” he sighed while glaring at Genesis’s back “You are not in a coma.”  
“I suppose this was a bit too realistic to be a dream,” Anne admitted with hunched shoulders.  
“Yup, I do not know what Genesis is trying to pull but he was lying to you,” Sephiroth looked up at her “You’re actually Anne Susanna Lockhart, not this Florence character and this is your life.”  
“If I’m this Anne then why do I have memories of me being Florence?” Anne raised a sceptical eyebrow.  
“You love to write stories, Florence is a character that Anne created for a story. So I suppose Anne would think that she had memories of Florence because she knows all about Florence.”  
Anne stared at the ground uncertainly, biting her lip.  
“So I’m this Anne with an older sister, going to this normal school without magic…”  
Magic? Sephiroth hid his smirk. Anne certainly loved her fantasy worlds.  
“And going out with a boyfriend who lied to me about this,” Anne giggled as she continued watching Genesis.  
“I didn’t…” Sephiroth’s gaze hardened when he realised that she was talking about Genesis “I’m your boyfriend. Genesis lied about him being your boyfriend too.”  
Anne turned to him and shrugged with a smile.  
“Why would I go out with someone like you?” she asked, not knowing that she was hurting him “You’re not the kind of guy I would go out with.”  
She sighed dreamily and watched as Genesis began explaining a trick to Seth.  
“Genesis read quite the intriguing story to me a while ago,” she said “He said it was called Loveless.”  
“Anne hates Loveless,” Sephiroth grumbled.  
“Stop that,” Anne suddenly snapped at him “You can’t tell me who I am.”  
Sephiroth rose to his full height, his shadow covering her petite form.  
“Why not? If you have no memory of being Anne then I need to tell you who she is so you can go back into your rightful role.”  
“And who says that she’s my rightful role?!” Anne raised her voice “If I’m supposed to be Anne then why am I so convinced that I’m Florence? If Anne wanted to be Florence, I’m sure there’s a good reason why she became Florence!”  
“This is getting ridiculous,” Sephiroth sighed softly, shaking his head “Anne, see reason. Florence doesn’t exist.”  
“If she doesn’t exist then how come I have memories of delivering my baby brother, fighting with my sister and getting bullied at school?!” Anne began shouting “Don’t you dare tell me that I don’t exist because I do!”  
“Florence is just a fictional character!” Sephiroth began shouting, his patience snapping.  
Anne stepped back, glaring at him menacingly.  
“Well even if I was Anne,” she snarled “I would never, NEVER, go out with a fucking jerk like yourself! Now leave me alone, go bang some bimbo who lives in the house opposite you or something!”  
She ran off to the boys, who had lifted their heads when they heard the shouting. She hugged Genesis and Genesis gave a smug smirk to Sephiroth. Sephiroth glowered at him before storming off.  
*************************  
Back to the present…  
************************  
“She…swore?” Vincent sounded rather astounded “Anne has the ability to…swear?”  
“Not Anne,” Sephiroth grumbled then used air quotes “‘Florence’ swears.”  
He slammed the baseball into the wall and Vincent snatched it when it rebounded.  
“Right, I’m confiscating this,” he announced.  
“And how do you expect me to relieve this tension, apart from killing Genesis?” Sephiroth asked with a raised eyebrow.  
“Go masturbate in the shower or something,” Vincent shrugged “You’re a hormonal teenager, do something else apart from disturbing your parents.”  
He closed the door and Sephiroth scowled.  
“Whatever,” he grumbled as he began taking his clothes off to go to sleep.  
As he lay on his bed, he stared at the ceiling, closing his eyes when they got too heavy.  
“Anne…” he sighed.  
Would she ever wake up from this façade?


	18. Chapter 18

Florence was tired. She scribbled notes for Japanese in her free period. She sat on her own and felt the loneliness affect her. She missed Genesis, she hadn’t seen him for the whole day because he had so much work to do. The last time she ever saw him was yesterday in Dance when they were paired up. Her train of thought was interrupted when some girls sat in front of her and she narrowed her eyes at them.  
“What do you want?” she spat venomously.  
Bianca, Hayley and Crystal stared in horror at their friend’s cold tone. Bianca recovered first and smiled.  
“Well, we were wondering if you would like to do some practice routines down at the ice rink,” she suggested as Hayley and Crystal lifted their skates.  
Florence narrowed her eyes at them before sighing.  
“And if I refuse?”  
“Anne, you love ice-skating,” Hayley pouted.  
“Please stop telling me what Anne is supposed to love and hate,” Florence said curtly.  
“Now, Florence,” Crystal sighed as they remembered Anne’s fall down the staircase “We suggested a lovely activity for us to get to know each other a bit better. And you looked rather lonely here and as we’re your friends…”  
“Anne certainly had a poor choice in picking out her friends,” Florence grumbled as she eyed them all warily.  
Hayley looked like she was going to cry at Florence’s cruel tone and Bianca curled an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. It was lucky for them, Melody was just passing by and caught their conversation. Taking a deep breath, she darted forward and crouched down to her.  
“Now, Florence,” she said carefully and Florence glanced at her with a bored look “Ice-skating can be just like ballet but on ice.”  
“Really…?” Florence said slowly as she picked up on the word ballet.  
“Oh yes!” Bianca exclaimed “We’ve been taking a break on all the routines in our lessons because of Ruka’s accident.”  
Hayley and Crystal nodded eagerly and Florence regarded the four girls warily before sighing.  
“Alright, but this better not be a waste of time,” she said as she got up and began packing her stuff.  
Crystal flashed Melody a grateful look and Melody smiled back. Asa watched them as he pretended to listen to his music while reading a magazine about Drama techniques. Anne, or Florence, seemed to have a shift in her personality. Maybe the bump on the head made that change? Or had she really lost her memories of being Anne and replaced them with the artificial memories of Florence from the pressure of being bullied? Asa lowered his magazine as he noticed Anne’s change in walk, designed to be more elegant and graceful like a ballerina.  
*****************************  
Florence watched as the girls glided onto the ice rink effortlessly. She carefully stood up on her skates, expecting to wobble and lose a bit of balance then frowned when she realised she was perfectly still. Strange, she hadn’t been in ice skates that much. After hearing the blunette calling to her, Florence went to the ice and carefully stepped on. She wobbled a little bit but found her surprise when her foot pushed her further on the ice and soon she was skating with the others.  
“Hey, Anne, I mean Florence!” Bianca called as she circled her “Remember how to do this?”  
Florence watched as she skated across then leapt, doing a single turn in mid-air before landing. Florence raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.  
“In ballet maybe but not on ice,” she said.  
Crystal grimaced and came up behind Florence, placing a hand on her shoulder.  
“Try it,” she urged.  
Florence scowled but glided forward anyway. She closed her eyes as she jumped, twirled and expected to fall flat on her face. But her skates landed back on the ice and she stumbled only a little bit. She hit the barrier on the ice rink with a dull thud as the girls cheered for her. She clenched her fists and turned to her audience.  
“What did you do to me?” she growled.  
The girls shared a confused look and Florence skated towards them.  
“You did something to me so I could be able to do such a complicated technique,” she accused and pointed to them.  
“Anne…” Hayley whined.  
Crystal and Bianca gasped as Florence turned on Hayley and backhanded her. Hayley fell over in surprise and rubbed her cheek in shock. Florence snarled before skating off and storming off into the changing rooms. Hayley began crying and Bianca helped her out.  
“Crystal, why could she do such a technique if she claims to have barely ice-skated before in the past?” Bianca asked as she sensed Crystal’s distant look.  
“Anne may have Florence’s memories of Florence’s past,” Crystal murmured “but she does still have Anne’s procedural memories stored in her muscles.”  
************************************************************************************************  
“Weak, pathetic, stupid body!” Florence grunted as she punched her reflection in the bathroom.  
She grinned happily as she succeeded in making her fist bleed and the mirror crack. She brought her fist to her mouth and slowly dragged her tongue over the cuts, shivering in delight when she tasted her blood. She caught the cold green gaze of a girl who had just come in and turned to her. The girl shook her head.  
“You’re mad,” she whispered.  
“What are you going to do about it?” Florence challenged.  
Fiona heaved a sigh as she grabbed some tissue paper to dab on Florence’s cuts. She knew enough from Othello, her brother, about Florence’s character. Florence drew away from her and Fiona sighed again.  
“Florence, Anne,” she said and shrugged to herself when she didn’t care about the difference “I don’t know what kind of world you lived in but in this world, people who self-harm get locked up.”  
“That’s a bit harsh,” Florence snapped.  
“You’re lucky a teacher didn’t walk in on you!” Fiona hissed and gestured to the mirror “How exactly would you have explained yourself?”  
“I punched the mirror a few times to release some tension?” Florence shrugged.  
“Anne, Florence,” Fiona shrugged again “I don’t care about what the hell is going on in your head. Nonetheless, I’m your friend. Please, let me help you.”  
“Help me with what?” Florence asked suspiciously.  
Fiona bit her lip and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath before an idea came to mind.  
“If I can help you restore Anne’s memories,” she said carefully “Then you might be able to return back to your home.”  
“Might?” Florence raised an eyebrow.  
“Think about it logically,” Fiona said “You are trapped in Anne’s body because you have your memories inside her. She might be in your body because of the memories she holds. Maybe if we have Anne’s body get to remember Anne’s semantic memories, your memories will go out of Anne’s body and back into your body.”  
Florence paused and stared ahead blankly as she took in Fiona’s words. Fiona took the opportunity to wrap her hand up in tissue paper. Florence regarded her curiously before shrugging.  
“So, what does Anne like to do?”  
“Anne loves writing and horse-riding above everything else,” Fiona smiled softly as they began talking.


End file.
